bad egg
Preserved but no longer current.
A disreputable character; a thoroughly bad fellow. A bad excuse is better than none. An adage that first appeared in Nicolas Udall's Ralph Roister Bolster (1541), the first comedy written for the English stage.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “bad egg” mean?
A disreputable character; a thoroughly bad fellow. A bad excuse is better than none. An adage that first appeared in Nicolas Udall's Ralph Roister Bolster (1541), the first comedy written for the English stage.
Is “bad egg” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.