WordWealth: dudgeon

dudg·eon1 , n.

a feeling of offense or resentment; anger: We left in high dudgeon.

—Syn. indignation, pique.

dudg·eon2 , n. Obs.

1. a kind of wood used esp. for the handles of knives, daggers, etc. 2. a handle or hilt made of this wood. 3. a dagger having such a hilt.

[1400–50; late ME; cf. AF digeon] (Random House Webster's Unabridged). Look at Thesaurus

This vulgarisation-by-Hollywood has certainly raised eyebrows among Harry Potter fans, who were dismayed by the enormous merchandising deal J K Rowling and Warner Brothers struck with Coca-Cola, for example.--Will Lewis fans find themselves in an equal state of high dudgeon in a few years? If they do, it probably won't displease Walden Media excessively. That would mean its gamble had worked and the next Harry Potter was securely in its lap. —— Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles, 'The Lion, the Witch and the Hollywood 'franchise'; Independent; August 03, 2002

Beyond the lives taken, the prestige lost, the treasure consumed, the Soviets have already paid a stiff price for their invasion and for an occupation that will soon enter its sixth year. The vehemence of the initial American response to the invasion caught the Soviets by surprise. In April of 1978 a Communist regime was installed in Kabul; in December of 1979 it was replaced by another Communist regime. Why was the West in such high dudgeon? After all, from the standpoint of geopolitics, in Raymond Garhoff's words, "continued communist rule in Afghanistan would but represent consolidation of the ... status quo." In short, the invasion "was intended to preserve, not upset, an existing geopolitical balance," as the Soviets saw it. The United States had accepted the 1978 coup; after a protest for the record it would accept the 1979 invasion, which was necessary to secure the fruits of the coup. —— John Keegan; The Ordeal of Afghanistan; An overview of the history and geopolitical significance of the Soviet invasion and occupation; The Atlantic; Nov 1985

Higgins was so frustrated by such a basic error that he stormed out of the arena for the mid-session interval in high dudgeon. —— Phil Yates, "Stevens  begins  to Feel Pressure as Swail Stages Customary Revival"; Times  (London), April 29, 2000

What you see, they reckon, is all there is: a media star of fading allure--and shortening temper, if his dudgeon over a television soap-opera satire about him called "How was I, Doris?" (a reference to his fourth wife) is anything to go by. —— "Gerhard  Schröder, Embattled  Chancellor", The Economist, Sep18, 1999

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