Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a disadvantage, unfair treatment.

1856		G.J. Whyte-Melville Kate Coventry (1865) 4: I know Bob didn’t think so, though he got the worst of it, every way.
1887		G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 236: I well knew if he caught me on his ground I would get the worst of it.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 20 May 5/6: [headline] The Punishment Ordered [...] After a Secret Investigation Where the Accused had All the Worst of it.
1896		Ade Artie (1963) 93: ‘He was just speaking about you.’ [...] ‘Did he gi’ me the worst of it?’.
1903		A.H. Lewis Boss 107: This captain held out on us, or handed us th’ worst of it on th’ quiet.
1917		R. Lardner ‘Carmen’ in Gullible’s Travels 3: Hatch went out in the kitchen and split a pint o’ beer, and Hatch done the pourin’ and his best friend couldn’t say he give himself the worst of it.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 255: I took the five hundred dollars knowing I was getting the worst of it and wondering how I could get even.
1930		W.R. Burnett Iron Man 308: He couldn’t disqualify the champion; the crowd would mob him, but he couldn’t let O’Keefe get the worst of it.
1937		(con. 1905–25) E.H. Sutherland Professional Thief (1956) 94: The defendant, feeling he was due for the worst of it.
1970		‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 7: ‘The first time a doc ever took the worst of it,’ Dago chuckled.
1977		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 6: worst, the – an expression of displeasure. ‘That’s the worst.’.