ne'er-do-well

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English

WOTD – 31 May 2007

Etymology

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"Ne'er-do-well" is a contracted compound word stemming from the combination of the words "never do well."

“Never-do-well” is sometimes used as an offhand, expanded version of the phrase, where “never” is not contracted. The usage of this version is often attributed to the northeastern United States.

Pronunciation

Noun

ne'er-do-well (plural ne'er-do-wells)

  1. A person without a means of support; an idle, worthless person; a loafer; a person who is ineffectual, unsuccessful, or completely lacking in merit; a good-for-nothing.
    • 1933, The Commonweal, volume 19, page 241:
      So they have trooped forth to organize village down-and-outs and ne'er-do-wells into would-be combat units.
    • 2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 1, 26:
      Clara's father, a trollish ne'er-do-well who spent most of his time in brothels and saloons, would disappear for days and weeks at a stretch, leaving Clara and her mother to fend for themselves.
  2. A person who is up to no good; a rogue.

Adjective

ne'er-do-well (comparative more ne'er-do-well, superlative most ne'er-do-well)

  1. Showing the characteristics of a ne'er-do-well: indolent, worthless, or roguish.
    • 1859, George Sargent, The Story of a Pocket Bible, The Religious Tract Society, page 392:
      The brother who sought me out and would have redeemed me from the power of darkness, but he couldn't; and has robbed himself of joy and comfort in life to keep his ne'er-do-well brother from starvation; who has paid his debts over and taken him out of jail again and again....
    • 2010, Susan Cayleff, Wash and Be Healed: The Water-Cure Movement and Women's Health, Temple University Press, page 88:
      Before the 1850s, when women figured most prominently in textile employment, the reasons that caused women to seek paid labor—a ne'er-do-well husband, economic distress of the natal family, or a belief that factory work was a road to self-betterment—often precluded their considering an away-from-home cure.
    • '2013, Kelly Hager, Dickens and the Rise of Divorce: The Failed-Marriage Plot and the Novel Tradition, Ashgate Publishing Limited, page 146:
      Think of the scorn with which Nicholas Nicklebys Madame Mantalini treats her ne'er-do-well husband from whom she insists "on being separated and left to myself...."

Synonyms

Translations

good-for-nothing — see good-for-nothing

See also

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia