bad egg
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]An allusion to an egg that has gone bad or turned rotten.[1]
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈbæd ɛɡ/
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
[edit]- (British, US, idiomatic) Someone whose behaviour is reprehensible or irresponsible; a rogue.
- 1906, Horatio Alger, Joe the Hotel Boy:
- "Dat's right!" piped up the newsboy who had brought the policeman. "I see him do de trick jest a minit ago!"
"This is a plot against me!" fumed the swindler.
"Dat feller is a bad egg!" went on the newsboy. "His name is Bill Butts. He's a slick one, he is. Hits de country jays strong, he does!"
- 1914 October – 1916 July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter X, in The Mucker, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published 31 October 1921, →OCLC:
- I've been a fairly bad egg, Byrne, for a great many years; but, by George! I'm not entirely rotten yet.
- 1990, John Updike, Rabbit at Rest:
- My son had a drug problem and hired a bad egg as a chief accountant […]
- 2017 May 26, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Friday, May 26, 2017:
- "And the fifth immortal we know tried to kill you." "He is a bad egg. We stick to good eggs."
- (literal) An egg that has gone bad; a rotten egg.
Antonyms
[edit]Translations
[edit]rogue
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Gary Martin (1997–) “A bad egg”, in The Phrase Finder, retrieved 28 December 2017; Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “egg”, in Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved 28 December 2017.