ugly customer

American  

noun

1. a hostile or dangerous person.

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ugly customer Idioms  

1. An ill-natured or vicious individual, as in Watch out for Charlie when he's drinking; he can be an ugly customer. This phrase uses ugly in the sense of “mean” or “dangerous.” [c. 1800]

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Etymology

Origin of ugly customer

First recorded in 1805–15

Example Sentences

“She will prove an ugly customer to deal with, depend on it.”

From Fred Markham in Russia The Boy Travellers in the Land of the Czar by Landells, R. T.

At length, however, she discovered that an ugly customer was near her, and lost no time in setting every stitch of canvas she could carry, and running directly off before the wind.

From Hurricane Hurry by Kingston, William Henry Giles

He was very roughly dressed on the day of the raid, and in every sense of the word he looked like an "ugly customer."

From The Strange Story of Harper's Ferry With Legends of the Surrounding Country by Barry, Joseph

Cuhullin was an ugly customer to meet with; and, the idea of the "cake" aforesaid flattened the very heart within him.

From Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales by Various

His colour is of a dirty blue-black, and altogether he is a very ugly customer, as the unfortunate tiger usually finds.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 377, March 1847 by Various