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

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

For Pete was big-boned and strong, and promised to be an ugly customer in a battle.

From The Vast Abyss The Story of Tom Blount, his Uncles and his Cousin Sam by Fenn, George Manville

Cucullin was an ugly customer, no doubt, to meet with; and, moreover, the idea of the confounded "cake" aforesaid flattened the very heart within him.

From Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry by Yeats, W. B. (William Butler)

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

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

“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.