meaning of "I am in a pet"

[Phoo]

Hello,

I only know that an English word "Pet" means animals to be petted.
I found this sentense in my dictonary.

"I am (or She is, whoever) in a pet.

According to the dictionary,
it means "I feel bad or I am angry."
How come?
And what is the core meaning or origin of the wrod "pet"??

[Phoo]

Anothere dictionary says:

"get in a pet" means "get the sulks"

But "sulk" means to be silently angry and refuse to be friendly
or discuss what is annoying or upsetting you.

To me it seems totally different from "Pet".!!!

Help!

[Jamie (K)]

I have never heard this use of the word "pet" in my entire life, and I can't find any example of it on Google. It doesn't make sense to me either, so if I were you I'd just ignore it, and I would be very suspicious of that dictionary.

[Pamela]

Hi Jamie and Phoo,

My home e-dictionary also provided me with 'to be in a pet/ to take(the) pet meaning 'to have the sulks',' to be in the sulks' . It would be better to use 'beast' instead of 'pet' (Just a joke!)

[Yankee]

Hi Phoo

I've never heard 'pet' used this way either -- even though this definition does appear in both American and British dictionaries.

I did a search of the BNC got only one single result in which 'pet' appears to be used this way.

If I were you, I wouldn't worry about this definition.

[Phoo]

Thanks everyone!

It sounds as if I'd better ignore it
and put the effort on something else,
someting more meanigful.

[Englishuser]

Hi,

Surely it is very useful to know unusual expressions like that...

Englishuser

[Alan]

Hi,

It occurs to me that this use of 'pet' may well be a corruption of 'being petulant'. 'Petulant' describes a mood where you are irritable or impatient.

A
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story A Rhapsody of Words

[Phoo]

Umm...Petulant

I have learned a new English word!! Yee-ha!
Actually, the disaster was a blessing in disguise! haha