grinch
n.n. a person who is very mean or unpleasant, especially during the holidays. You use this word when someone ruins a happy event for everyone else.
n. a person who is spiteful, unpleasant, or malicious, particularly in the context of holiday celebrations. Often used to describe someone who deliberately spoils the mood of a group.
He was the grinch of the party and ruined everyone's fun.
The manager acted like a grinch, refusing to let the team celebrate their successful project until the last minute.
While the rest of the office decorated for the holiday, the grinch of the department spent the entire afternoon complaining about the budget cuts.
Named after the main character in a children's book by Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957). Coined as early as 1953, the term was initially used for a fictitious bird named the "Beagle-Beaked-Bald-Headed Grinch" in Scrambled Eggs Super!; it became associated with the character in a poem published in the May 1955 issue of Redbook, "The Hoobub and the Grinch". Likely a corruption of grouch.