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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ugly customer

“Thou’dst best not get across with Dick o’ Dover; he’s an ugly customer when he’s in the mind.”

From All's Well Alice's Victory by M. Lewin

“That Tom Dinass is an ugly customer if he’s put out.”

From Sappers and Miners The Flood beneath the Sea by Hal Hurst

“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 R. T. Landells

This done, we again sprang at our ugly customer, he at the bow, and I about midships.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, No. 19, Dec 1851 by Various

The blacksnake, though he looks an ugly customer and, when cornered, will sometimes show fight, is not venomous and his bite is not deep.

From On the Trail An Outdoor Book for Girls by Lina Beard

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