Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Petulance \Pet"u*lance\, Petulancy \Pet"u*lan*cy\, n. [L.
   petulania: cf. F. p['e]tulance. See {Petulant}.]
   The quality or state of being petulant; temporary
   peevishness; pettishness; capricious ill humor. ``The
   petulancy of our words.'' --B. Jonson.

         Like pride in some, and like petulance in others.
                                                  --Clarendon.

         The lowering eye, the petulance, the frown. --Cowper.

   Syn: {Petulance}, {Peevishness}. -- Peevishness implies the
        permanence of a sour, fretful temper; petulance implies
        temporary or capricious irritation.