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

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.

He was not long in finding the vine in question an ugly customer.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 109, November, 1866 by Various

With his friends, they say Dick Turpin can be as gentle as a lamb; with his foes, especially with a limb of the law like yourself, he's been found but an ugly customer.

From Rookwood by Ainsworth, William Harrison

“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.

“I am thinking,” said Trevor, in a quiet, slow way—“thinking that he’s an ugly customer, and that his head looks precious hard.”

From Thereby Hangs a Tale Volume One by Fenn, George Manville