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

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

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

Mr. Shark, who is an ugly customer, had been cruising in the neighbourhood, and had taken a morsel out of an American swimmer a little time before.

From Romantic Spain A Record of Personal Experiences (Vol. II) by O'Shea, John Augustus

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

Far Rua 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 The Irish Fairy Book by Various

“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.