Irascible, peevish, vexed, cantankerous. This simile dates from the late eighteenth century and has survived as a cliché on both sides of the Atlantic even though the adjective cross for “angry” is heard less frequently in America. Why a bear should be considered particularly prone to anger is not entirely clear, and indeed, over the years writers have amplified the description somewhat—for example, “cross as a bear with a sore head,” “mad as a beaten bear,” “grumbled like a bear with a sore ear.”