UGLY, subs. (colloquial).—1. An ugly person: also in contemptuous address, 'Hallo, Ugly!' Mr. Ugly, etc.
d. 1797. Walpole, Letters, 11. 422. There were all the beauties and all the diamonds, and not a few of the uglies of London.
2. (old).—A bonnet shade: worn by women as an extra protection from the sun: middle 19th century.
1851. Thackeray, Kickleburys on the Rhine. She and her sisters wore a couple of those blue silk over-bonnets, which have lately become the fashion. . . . 'We call those hoods Uglies.'
3. (common).—In pl. = delirium tremens; the horrors (q.v.).
4. (provincial).—A beating, a round of abuse (Halliwell).
Adj. (colloquial).—Generic for disquiet or unpleasantness: e.g. an ugly (= threatening) tone; an ugly (= dangerous) wound; an ugly (= unpleasant) rumour; an ugly (= wrong) turn; ugly (= stormy) weather; an ugly (= awkward or malicious) customer, opponent; a source of danger, etc.; an ugly (= troublesome) cough; an ugly (= ill-natured) temper; an ugly (= quarrelsome) attitude. Hence to come the ugly = to threaten; to cut up (or look) ugly = to show anger or resentment; to call by ugly names = to revile or abuse. Also ugliness (American) = ill-nature, crossness, perversity.
c.1360. Alliterative Poems [E.E.T.S.], 64. Thay wern wakened al wrank that therein won lenged, Of on the vglokest vnhap that euer on erd suffred.
1859. Kendall, Santa Fé, 1. 133. The questions of the spies were answered in a sullen, swaggering manner; so much so that Captain Caldwell at once remarked to his men, in a low tone and in English, that these fellows looked ugly and fighty.
c.1865. Holmes, At the Pantomime. The grisly story Chaucer told, And many an ugly tale beside.
1867. Harper's Mag., xxxv. 341. It was as ugly a little promenade as I ever undertook.
1869. Stowe, Oldtown, 196. He was jest the crossest, ugliest critter that ever ye see, an' he was ugly jest for the sake o' ugliness.
1870. Weatherley, Lamplighter; 110. I'll not answer her back when she's ugly to me.
1880. Stevenson, Will o' the Mill. An ugly thrill spread from the spot he touched.
1887. Field, 24 Sep. There is an ugly rumour afloat that certain bookmakers who had laid heavily are directly responsible for Monday's outbreak.
18[?]. J. Brown, Rab and His Friends, 6. He must have been a hard hitter if he boxed as he preached—what 'The Fancy' would call an ugly customer.
See Plug-ugly.
