dudgeon
Noun: - A feeling of intense indignation, anger, or resentment, typically resulting from a perceived insult or offense. In modern usage, it is almost exclusively found in the fixed phrase "in high dudgeon".
The word dudgeon is an archaic term that is no longer used independently. It is a non-count noun and is only used in the idiomatic expression "in high dudgeon" to describe a state of being deeply offended and angrily indignant, often accompanied by a haughty or stormy departure.
- "in high dudgeon": This is the standard and only common modern construction. It functions as an adverbial phrase modifying a verb of departure or reaction (e.g., ).
- The ambassador withdrew from the negotiations in high dudgeon.
- Indignation (n): Anger or annoyance provoked by what is perceived as unfair treatment. This is the modern, more common synonym for the feeling described by .
- Umbrage (n): Offense or annoyance. Often used in the phrase "to take umbrage at" something.
- Wrath (n): Extreme anger (often of a grand or divine scale).
- Indignation
- Umbrage
- Resentment
- Ire (archaic/literary)
- Pique
Historically, dudgeon could also refer to a type of wood used for dagger handles or the dagger itself, but this meaning is entirely obsolete. The contemporary understanding relates solely to the emotional state of offended anger, encapsulated in the phrase "in high dudgeon".
- a feeling of intense indignation (now used only in the phrase `in high dudgeon')