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

“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 Lewin, M.

It's an ugly customer the fever, though, Mr Whyte," observed Mr Trace; "and I calculate we ought to do him that pleasure.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 54, No. 338, December 1843 by Various

Bernardo is an ugly customer, and he is probably very bitter over the defeat of his forces and the collapse of the revolution.

From Two Boys of the Battleship or For the Honor of Uncle Sam by Webster, Frank V.

Well, Bristles, I don't blame you much, because he was an ugly customer.

From Fred Fenton Marathon Runner The Great Race at Riverport School by Chapman, Allen

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