Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) anything unpleasant, disgusting or of poor quality, e.g. a piece of gross hypocrisy etc.

1942		S. Bellow in Letters (2010) 27: When I picked up the current issue of Story it was full of a coarse-grained piece of shit by WB himself, a fictional version of the life of Robert Burns.
1968		Letter 30 Jan. in Edelman Dear America (1985) 82: Come October ’68 I’m gonna [...] watch you put a match to this piece of crap.
1978		L. Kramer Faggots 38: A lease on this piece of shit is yours for any price.
1983		S. King Christine 15: If he took that car to Darnell’s, he couldn’t get fifty dollars for parts. It’s a piece of shit.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 304: It’s an awful little piece of shit.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 105: [of a song] ‘Piece of shit if you ask me’.
1999		J. Cameron Brown Bread in Wengen [ebook] ‘And I never want you fitting me up neither on some piece of shit’.
2008		J. Niven Kill Your Friends (2009) 39: It will cost us maybe a hundred grand to try and have a hit with this piece of shit.
2012		M. McBride Frank Sinatra in a Blender [ebook] ‘What about this piece of shit?’ I kicked the back tire of the Neon.
2020		C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 113: [of an automobile] ‘Move that piece of shit outta here!’.
2021		P Howard Braywatch 202: [of an automobile] I throw the piece of shit in a space next to McDonald’s.

2. (orig. US) an unpleasant or disliked person.

1949		H. Miller Sexus (1969) 140: I’m a lawyer. So what? I might just as well be a piece of shit.
1956		T. Anderson Your Own Beloved Sons 46: He treated me like I was a piece of crap.
1960		J. Iggulden Storms of Summer 97: ‘Bastard yourself!’ shrieked the Italian [...] ‘Piece of shit! Bastard yourself!’.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 39: I’m just like any other man, one hunk of shit hung up.
1973		E. Bunker No Beast So Fierce 89: He’s a piece of shit to me. Shyster lawyers are worse than stooligeons.
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 41: Hey, Kramer, you piece of shit!
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 125: Even a piece of shit like you has to have some women he cares about.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 60: Anybody’d nail that piece of shit is aces with me.
2005		B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 11: What a cowardly, stinking piece of shit I was.
2009		P. Temple Truth 319: Villani. Got a piece of shit to be taken off my hands. Yeah.
2009		L. McIlvanney All the Colours 165: ‘[Y]ou fucking Fenian piece of shit’.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 172: Some piece of shit I think is looking to fuck with me.
2012		Cape Times IOL (SA) 19 May 🌐 An arrogant piece of shit who thinks he’s above the law.
2012		E. Petulengro Caravans & Wedding Bands 51: That no-good piece of shite.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 258: ‘Cards on the table, Tony. I think you’re a piece of shit’.
2016		Guardian G2 10 May 10/1: Kill yourself you Fat Piece of Shit.
2019		N. Walker Cherry 5: ‘You fucking piece of shit!’ ‘Goddamn, lady. What do you want from me?’.
2024		C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 147: ‘Husband [...] in jail. No money. Piece of shit’.