Literary notes about Obstreperous (AI summary)
Literary authors employ "obstreperous" as a vividly descriptive term to evoke unruly, boisterous, and even belligerent characteristics in both persons and settings. It appears when highlighting the noisy, resistant demeanor of a character—for instance, a companion whose laughter is described as most obstreperous ([1]) or a spoiled puppy causing commotion ([2]). At times, the word underscores social or political unrest, as in accounts of unruly tenants or rowdy masses that disrupt order ([3], [4]), while in other narratives it lends a touch of ironic humor, characterizing the cacophonous nature of applause or the all-too-human vitality of certain individuals ([5], [6]). Thus, "obstreperous" enriches the literary palette, offering an energetic label to behavior that defies gentle conformity ([7], [8]).
- I must confess the philosophy of this remark awakened in me a train of very grave reflections; but my companion burst into a most obstreperous laugh.
— from Acadiaor, A Month with the Blue Noses by Frederic S. (Frederic Swartwout) Cozzens - When Wolf was a spoiled and obstreperous puppy of three months or so, Lady was stricken with distemper and was taken to a veterinary hospital.
— from Further Adventures of Lad by Albert Payson Terhune - How often she had said to her husband, when he was straining at the leash to meet and “down” some obstreperous tenant, “Dear Geoffrey, sleep over it.”
— from Fishpingle: A Romance of the Countryside by Horace Annesley Vachell - At this particular election the Bolsheviks forgot the women workers, who turned out to be unexpectedly obstreperous.
— from Red Dusk and the Morrow: Adventures and Investigations in Red Russia by Paul Dukes - The satire conveyed by the piquant "chink chink" was overcharged; but the honest bourgeoisie drowned all discontent with obstreperous applause.
— from Punch - Volume 25 (Jul-Dec 1853) by Various - I think he's got a rather——" he hesitated for a word, then found it—"obstreperous vitality."
— from Love and hatred by Marie Belloc Lowndes - At all events, Hepzibah had fully satisfied herself of the impossibility of ever becoming wonted to this peevishly obstreperous little bell.
— from The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne - “Your love-suit,” said De Bracy, “hath, I suppose, been disturbed, like mine, by this obstreperous summons.
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott
