mean streak

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

mean streak (plural mean streaks)

1. (idiomatic) A defect in character characterized by persistent nastiness, viciousness, or malevolence.
   • 1911, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, chapter 1, in The Crux:

     "He's worse than mischievous," Mr. Lane assured her sourly. "There's a mean streak in that family."

   • 1993 May 14, Janet Maslin, “Film: A Western in the Hands of a Revisionist”, in New York Times, retrieved 14 Sept 2017:

     The film's considerable taste for graphic, noisy violence becomes clear during this tumultuous opening. So does its mean streak, as the Colonel delivers outrageous insults to one and all.

   • 2016 March 10, Paul Hayward, “Sport: Eddie Jones takes England siege mentality to the extreme”, in Telegraph, UK, retrieved 14 Sept 2017:

     England’s combative coach . . . wants aggression, a touch of the outlaw, a mean streak.