Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. one who brings bad luck; thus fem. Jonahess; also of objects.

1836		Marryat Mr Midshipman Easy II 294: ‘What an old Jonah you are, Martin,’ said Gascoigne.
1846		Durivage & Burnham Stray Subjects (1848) 111: He was a Jonah, cuss him, but we fixed him afo’ we got through.
1850		(con. 1843) Melville White-Jacket (1990) 337: Damn you, you Jonah! I don’t see how you can sleep in your hammock, knowing as you do that by making an odd number in the mess you have been the death of one poor fellow, and ruined Baldy for life.
1873		J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 465: If the answer was unfavorable, he would [...] resume his pace, muttering to himself ‘There’s a Joner in that room, sure!’.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 20 June 6/1: He has been wrecked four times in four years, and had greatly distinguished himself on each occasion. His reputation as a Jonah is so great that two saloon passengers were nearly refusing to travel in the Cahors when they saw him on board in Sydney.
1886		Lantern (New Orleans, LA) 22 Sept. 5: Does it mean that Billy was a Jonah?
1896		‘Frederick Benton Williams’ (H.E. Hamblen) On Many Seas 114: ‘Who is the Jonah? Is it one of you fellows, or is it me?’ We told him we didn’t think it could be either of us, as we had always had good luck before.
1897		Riverina Recorder (Moulamein, NSW) 24 Mar. 2/5: [I]t tried hard to rain on Sunday morning, but dismally failed. That there must be a Jonah in the town.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 30 Aug. 32/1: She was a regular Jonahess; we’d nothing but foul winds and greasy calms as long as she was aboard of us.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.
1913		Sport (Adelaide) 4 Oct. 4/3: Art was a Jonah [...] with his ‘leca light’.
1918		A.N. Depew Gunner Depew 66: Some of them claimed he was a Jonah, or jinx, or bad luck of some kind.
1923		M. Garahan Stiffs 19: Just fancy the man at the wheel wearing glasses! What a Jonah!
1937		D. Fuchs Low Company 198: Don’t be a Jonah! You’ll queer my luck.
1946		F.J. Hardy ‘The Load of Wood’ in Man From Clinkapella 11: A man can’t tell whether you’re shivering with fright or with the cold. Yer a jonah, if ever there was one.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 111/2: Jonah. See Jinx.
1965		J. Thompson Texas by the Tail (1994) 171: Wildcats [i.e. oilwells] are always Jonahs.
1992		M. Coleman Fatty 111: After two years sitting disappointed in the stand George Vautin vowed never to watch his son in another grand final. ‘I’m a Jonah,’ he said.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1888		World (N.Y.) 31 Aug. 3/4: The air of gloom [...] was not dissipated today. In fact the jonah atmosphere rather increased.
1896		H. Blossom Checkers 45: Thursday was always my Jonah day.
1902		Ade Forty Modern Fables 155: He threw the Jonah Deck into the Grate, broke a fresh Pack.
1920		H. Wiley Wildcat 85: Wildcat circulated among his fellow scientists for a space of ten minutes, rolling the while, a pair of Jonah dice.

3. one who suffers severe misfortune.

1890		World (N.Y.) 10 June 6/4: Shannon says the Phillies always were Jonahs for the Giants.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Nov. 32/1: My luck is gone – I always throw the seven! / Each spec. I have doth fail – / I am the Only Genuine Jonah – yea and even / I’ve lost my blessed whale.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 266: Sometimes he had to listen to the Hard-Luck Jonas [sic] whose wife had been to see a Lawyer.
1929		J.B. Priestley Good Companions 328: Miss Trant will think we’re a lot of Jonahs, that is, if she understands the expression, which I doubt.
1976		E. Thompson Caldo Largo (1980) 85: He was hopeless. A Jonah. A man you could pity for having fallen so far.

4. a heckler.

1954

‘“Hipster” Rev. Dict.’ Mad mag. Oct. 20: heckler – jonah.

5. (US prison) a misfortune.

1967

M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 229: He began to think his way into the past [...] his fortunes, his Jonahs — some day it would all be arranged so it made sense.