cross-grained vs peppery

cross-grained

adj
  • Difficult to deal with; contrary or troublesome. 

  • Having an irregular rather than a parallel grain. 

peppery

adj
  • Resembling or characteristic of pepper, especially in having a spicy taste. 

  • Having a fiery temperament. 

How often have the words cross-grained and peppery occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )