no-account adj.
(orig. US black) a general pej., worthless, insignificant, undependable, untrustworthy, criminal.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Evenings of a Working Man 187: It’s o’ no use Poll, you ain’t o’ no ekount. | |
| [ | ![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Stray Subjects (1848) 119: That ’ere poor drivellen’ creetur ain’t of no account ’long side of a bar]. |
 | Old Glasgow Street Songs n.p.: She had the cheek to tell me, ‘that I was no account’. | |
| A Stray Yankee in Texas 282: Yes, Massa, dem no ’count calves done fool me again. | |
| Among the Mormons in Complete Works (1922) 278: I hope they pay partic’lar ’tention to Spelin in these Skools, because if a man can’t Spel wel he’s of no ’kount. | |
| Seven Years of a Sailor’s Life 321: Dis ’federit scrip aint no count, Massa. | |
| Hoosier Mosaics 110: ‘I’m a poor, no ’count dyin’ man, Rose, but you’ll never —’ His voice choked a little and he did not finish the sentence. | |
| Tenting on the Plains (rev. edn 1895) 107: Miss Lize tole us you’d make a scatter if you knew ‘no ’count’ chillern was a-bein’ fed at the cook-tent. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Dead Bird (Sydney) 30 Nov. 7/4: For some time I have thought that he [i.e. a dog] was no account. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 19 July 20/1: Lisle was [...] one of those no-account men who pass the whole of their existence in more or less temporary Government billets – inevitably ‘putting their feet into it’ when possible. | |
| [ | | Barkeep Stories 186: ‘I never see wan o’ dem gabby guys dat was any ’count, anyhow’]. |
| Blazed Trail 173: That no-account jackass of a Big Junko ain’t worth as much per thousand feet as good white pine. | |
| Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 16 Nov. 2/3: Some enterprising Yanks fancy that Australia is a no-account place, where any sort of a show will draw like a mustard plaster. | |
| Courier-Jrnl (Louisville, KY) 17 Mar. 6/4: A trifling no-account nigger stole the soup-bone. | |
| Freshman in College Comedies 35: Horace. All this how-dy-do ‘bou a no-’count bricklayer . | |
| Shadow Line 226: Well – he’s a – no account cuss – anyhow. | |
| Stealing Through Life 11: Annoyed at being trailed by two small ‘no ’count white trash,’ he quickened his gait. | |
| Limey 9: The petty offenders and the ‘no-account’ bums were dealt with at incredible speed. | |
| Shilling for Candles 37: ‘You mean she thinks he’s a wrong’un?’ ‘No. Just no acount’. | |
| ‘My but the Rats are Terrible’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 323: Goddamned no count peckerwood! | |
| Breakfast at Tiffany’s 65: Them two been living with some mean, no-count people a hundred miles east of Tulip. | |
| Cool Hand Luke (1967) 147: Any time he catches either of his two no ’count sons fooling around [etc.]. | |
| Inside the Und. 70: No-account boys became fruit machine tycoons. | |
| The Same Old Grind 37: ‘They was glad to be rid of me, calling me no-count and all’. | |
| in Psychotic Reactions (1988) 374: Elvis was a no-’count hillbilly hollerawin’ raggedy nigger gooze. | |
| Six Out Seven (1994) 44: Shit, man. The ghost of a sheep be even more no-account! | |
| Chopper 4 148: This no-account hood and contract killer. | |
| ‘Tiger Mother’ in Life During Wartime (2018) 153: ‘I’m not about to lose my Lewis like his no-account father’. | |
| Razorblade Tears 250: ‘Some dirty no-count sons of bitches shot him down like a dog’. |
In compounds
1. a black who rejects the second-class role offered by the dominant white society.
| Life in Dixie’s Land 59: No, sar! No darkies eats with us. Hope you don’t reckon yerself no better than a good-for-nothin’, no-account nigger! | |
| Three Black Smiths in Darkey Drama 4 30: Yah, you no-account nigger! | |
| Princeton Union (MN) 28 Sept. 7/5: Ize gwine to let yo’ pologize fur sayin’ I was a no-account nigger. | |
| ‘A Municipal Report’ Strictly Business (1915) 171: In my opinion, gentlemen, Caswell was murdered by some of these no-account niggers for his money. | |
| Day Book (Chicago) 16 Sept. n.p.: Your honoh [...] dis am a no-account nigger. He spends his time shoottin craps and is a gambler. | |
| Broad Ax (Salt Lake City, UT) 25 Nov. 2/5: It is even futile to give up on the struggle and become a ‘no-account nigger’. | |
| Gingertown 9: I want you [...] fohget that no-’count nigger. | |
| Criminal (1993) 108: The most uppity, no-account nigger in the country. | |
| (con. 1940s) Hold Tight (1990) 75: If she was going to treat him like a no-account nigger, he was going to act like one. | |
| Sellout (2016) 263: How else a no-account shiftless nigger like me going to get whip marks on his back? |
2. an untrustworthy person.
| ‘Hot-Foot Hannibal’ in Conjure Woman 212: He kep’ gittin’ mo’ en mo’ triflin’, ’tel he got de name er bein’ de mos’ no ’countes’ nigger on de plantation. | |
| On Board a Whaler 138: A man who did not use tobacco [...] ‘wus ’n no ’count nigger’. | |
| Home to Harlem 104: Ain’t got no time for cheap- no-’count niggers. | |
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 148: A number of terms were used to characterize the young man who could not be trusted [...] no-account, bad-ass, no-account nigger. [Ibid.] 248: nigger, bad-ass(ed)/dog/no-account/nickle-dime Various references to the male who mistreats or demeans another (often used by females in describing certain males). See dog, (dirty). |