louse, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

louse n.

1. an extremely contemptible or untrustworthy individual.

1655		Mercurius Fumigosus 40 28 Feb.–7 Mar. 316: There had like to have been a more mortall fray then was betwixt the Taylor and the Lowse.
1710		R. Steele Tatler No. 239 n.p.: He complains to the World, that I call him Names, and that in my Passion I said, he was a Flea, a Louse [...] and a Nibbler.
1771		Smollett Humphrey Clinker (1925) I 138: He damns all the other writers of the age [...] One is a blunderbuss, as being a native of Ireland; another a half-starved louse of literature, from the banks of the Tweed.
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn) n.p.: louse A gentleman’s companion.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1862		q. in Wiley Life of Billy Yank (1952) 199: You kiss my arse, you God damned louse.
1873		J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 288: ‘What more could you expect from such a dirty, cowardly louse?’ asked Mr. Chapin.
1900		Flynt & Walton Powers That Prey 218: You dirty louse.
1915		G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 278: Why do these frails fall for such a louse?
1926		S. O’Casey Plough and the Stars Act II: You louse, you!
1937		R. Westerby Wide Boys Never Work (1938) 197: You dirty yellow cowson, I’ll show you up for the louse you are!
1939		J. Weidman What’s In It For Me? 159: I know I’m a louse. I know I’m a heel and all that.
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 251: Ye’re rolling in money and mean as a louse.
1952		L. Lariar Day I Died 158: Who’s the louse in the deal, is what I mean.
1963		M. Spillane Return of the Hood 82: You had to kill Fly and him and now you want to kill Irish too. You damn louse.
1971		Wodehouse Much Obliged, Jeeves 159: Bertie, you abysmal louse, what’s kept you all this time?
1981		W. Russell Educating Rita I ii: It’s crap because the feller who wrote it was a louse.
1993		T. Jones Pugilist at Rest 132: I was just a kid, but even so, I knew he was a louse.

2. (US black/gay) as the lice, police who arrest transvestites working as street prostitutes.

1996

L. Pettiway Honey, Honey, Miss Thang 251: When you get picked up and taken to Police Headquarters and you’re in drag everybody hoots and hollers, ‘I know that ain’t no man! That’s not no man! Don’t put that woman in here’ [...] They hold you for no more than an hour [...] They just let you go. Just to take you off the corner. They’re called the lice.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

louse bag (n.)

1. a wig or a bag worn over the hair.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

2. a term of abuse.

1942		G. Kersh Nine Lives Bill Nelson 36: This lousebag Rivers gets through his foot drill.
1962		B. McGhee Cut and Run (1963) 58: It was a lousebag’s trick. He knew the old fellow could never stand up to him.

lousebound (adj.)

a general abusive epithet, lit. one who is infested with lice.

1937		A. McLean Vive la Legion 169: ‘Blimey, what a louse bound officer,’ he exclaimed, ‘makes a bet and tries to do me, then when I win, he hits me and won’t pay’.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 282: The dirty lousebound old skut!
1942		G. Kersh Nine Lives Bill Nelson 41: Do you think, you lousebound twit, that you’re getting the better of a man if you put that man down for a second!
1949		M. Leigh Cross of Fire 191: God damn all louse-bound civvies!
1958		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Borstal Boy 141: You lousebound bastard, said I to myself.
1966		D. Niland Pairs and Loners 81: There was a lousebound sod I was with out of Angledool one year. Gord, was he something mother should have drowned.
1968		J. O’Grady Gone Troppo (1969) 184: If I ever go back to that louse-bound shack / I’ll give that boss some wingein’.

louse cage (n.) (also louse trap)(US)

1. a cheap hotel or lodging house.

1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 42: It was like the Waldorf-Astoria compared to the louse-trap I’d been in.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 129/2: Louse trap. A cheap lodging house.

2. (US) a hat.

1893		DN I 398: Louse-cage: n. common among school boys for ‘hat’.
1907		Carr & Chase ‘Word-List From Eastern Maine’ in DN III:iii 246: louse cage, n. Hat or cap.
1912		R.W. Brown ‘Word-List From Western Indiana’ in DN III:viii 582: louse trap, n. A hat [...] ‘Well, take off your louse-trap and stay awhile.’.
1915		M.G. Hayden ‘Terms Of Disparagement’ in DN IV:iii 209: louse-cage, hat. ‘Here’s your louse-cage. I don’t want it.’.
1925		J. Stevens ‘Logger Talk’ AS I:3 137/2: In the bunkhouse they hang up their ‘louse cages’—hats—and ‘souse themselves.’.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 124: Louse Cage. – A hat, which is supposed to confine the lice.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 808: louse cage – A hat.

3. a bunkhouse.

1925

J. Stevens ‘Logger Talk’ AS I:3 138/1: They took the term ‘louse cage (hat)’ and applied it to the whole bunkhouse.

4. a railroad caboose.

1945

F.H. Hubbard Railroad Avenue 351: Louse cage – Caboose.

louse house (n.) (also loose house, louse dump, ...hole, ...trap)

1. a prison.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
c.1830		‘Birmingham Jack’ in R. Palmer Touch of the Times 211: In Philip Street sold blacking paste, In High Street kept the louse-hole.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open 114: Loose house, round house or cage.
1931		in Amer. Mercury Dec. 413: He’d rather do six months in the louse-house.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 129/2: Louse trap. [...] a verminous prison or jail.

2. a seedy hotel or lodging house, or confined space.

a.1900		‘Kilkenny Louse House’ [ trad. ballad title].
1904		Number 1500 Life In Sing Sing 256: Louse House. Lodging house.
1910		Scrap Book 9 785: ‘Pad- money’ is the price of a bed in a cheap ‘scratch-house’ or ‘dump’ or ‘dosshouse’ or ‘louse-house’ .
1936		(ref. to 1920s) L. Duncan Over the Wall 28: [He] hadn’t as yet gained back his old nerve enough to go out and pull a job [...] Hence the sojourn in the louse-dump.
1945		R.S. Close Love me Sailor 10: Only for that rutting Miss Miller I wouldn’t be back in this godamned louse house!

louse ladder (n.)

1. a ladder, i.e. ‘a stitch fallen in a stocking’ (Grose 1785).

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

2. a bushy sidewhisker, usu. in pl.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 703: since ca. 1920.

Lousetown (n.)

(US) a slum, the poor area of a town or city.

1940

R. Service ‘The Ballad of Touch-the-Button Nell’ in Bar Room Ballads (1978) 623: They gave a dance in Lousetown, and the Tenderloin was there.

louse trap (n.)

1. (also Scotch louse trap) a toothcomb.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: A Scoth [sic] Louse-trap, a Comb.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1748		Dyche & Pardon New General Eng. Dict. (5th edn).
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1812		Spirit of Irish Wit 102: [L]ouse traps [means] their combs used in tossing.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
c.1830		‘Birmingham Jack’ in R. Palmer Touch of the Times 210: At the Old Wharf I did sell coal, in Suffolk Street made louse-traps.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.

2. the hair; the head.

1822

D. Carey Life in Paris 337: Why does thou louse-trap elevate it’s locks, / Unkempt and unadorn’d.

3. a sideburn or sidewhisker; usu. in pl.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 703: C.20.

louse walk (n.)

a back-hair parting.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.