Ungainliness; perversity, an evil temper; malice prepense. Halliwell gives cuss = surly.
“The turkey-cock is just as likely as not to trample on the young turkeys and smash them, or to split their skulls by a savage dig of his powerful beak. Whether this is ‘cussednessʹ pure and simple … has not been satisfactorily determined.”—Daily News, December 22nd, 1885.