Green’s Dictionary of Slang

see also under relevant n.

(US) a broken-down vehicle, airplane, etc.

1933		Industrial Education Mag. 34 33/1: I haven’t seen anyone who is crazy about driving around with you in that Bucket of Bolts you drive.
1942		C.R. Bond 5 Jan. in A Flying Tiger’s Diary (1984) 71: He refers to my ship [i.e. airplane] as a bucket of bolts.
1954		Mansell & Hall ‘Hot Rod Terms’ in AS XXIX:2 94: bucket of bolts, n. A car that rattles quite a bit, or used derisively of any car.
1962		D. Dempsey ‘Lang. of Traffic Policemen’ in AS XXXVII:4 267: bucket of bolts, n. phr. klunker, n. An old rattletrap car or truck.
1982		G.V. Higgins Patriot Game (1985) 172: I’ll go in to the rental people and drop off that bucket of bolts I’ve been driving.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 22/1: bucket of bolts dilapidated car.
1990		T. Winton Human Torpedo 101: He had a hunch, a fabulous hunch, that he wouldn’t be seeing that bucket of bogan bolts again for a while.
2000		posting at tedfelix. com 🌐 Subject: Mercury Topaz. What a bucket of bolts. Lives up to the FORD name, Fix Or Repair Daily.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].
2005		EDN.com 31 Mar. 🌐 [heading] Locomotives: not your father’s smoke-belching bucket of bolts anymore.

a very fat person.

1928		Hecht & MacArthur Front Page Act I: Listen, you big pail of lard!
1965–70		in DARE I 416/2: bucket of lard [...] lard bucket, bucket of blubber [...] (Nicknames for a person who is very fat).
2005		J.E. Reilly at www.tv.com 31 Oct. 🌐 That fat, sick, perverted bucket of lard has ruined Days and made Passions a joke.

(US) a person to be pitied and despised.

1991

C. Hiaasen Native Tongue 92: Charlie, you are one sorry bucket of puss.

see crock of shit n.

a general derog. description of an unattractive woman.

1999–2002		The Quad Network ‘Bedding The Ladies Prank’ at CollegeStories.com 🌐 Jerry showed up with a girl who had a face like a bucket of smashed crabs.
2006		P. Howard Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress [ebook] She arrives on the scene with [...] a face on her like a bucket of smashed crabs.
2012		J. Wood Woody’s World 61: She was ugly as sin with a face like a bucket of smashed crabs.

(US) an unpleasant, complex and unappetizing situation.

1965		W.C. Anderson Adam M-1 96: If this ain’t a bucket of worms!
1973		P. Maas Serpico 162: ‘Oh my God,’ Behan said. ‘What a bucket of worms.’.
1981		W. Petrocelli Low Profile 115: ‘A Bucket of Worms’[...] Patricia Hearst’s efforts to have her bank robbery conviction overturned [...] could ‘open a new bucket of worms’.
2000		North County Times (San Diego, CA) 9 Sept. 🌐 You open up a big bucket of worms letting this out. Once you allow the press into this, you allow all sorts of questions.
2009		E. Peters Night of 400 Rabbits 37: The world is a bucket of worms, a prolonged sick joke.