Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a general intensifier, usu. with derog. implications.

c.1386		Chaucer Frere’s Tale line 1467: A lowsy Iogelour kan deceyue thee, And pardee, yet can I more craft than he.
1514		Skelton Agenst Garnesche iii line 62: Ye wolde have bassyd hyr bumme, So that sche wolde have kum On to your lowsy den.
1562		Jacke Juggler Ci: Why thou lowsy thefe doest thou crye and rore.
c.1580		A. Montgomerie Invectiues Capitane Allexander Montgomeree and Pollvart in Parkinson (Poems) (2000) II line 86: The louslie phirasie [...] The lymphat, lunscheocht lithargie. [Ibid.] 129: Say, lowsie lowne, what evir thou lykis.
1597		J. Hall Virgidemiarum (1599) Bk I 12: Now soouping in side robes of Royaltie, That earst did skrub in lowsie brokerie.
1606		Return from Parnassus Pt II I ii: Would it not grieue any good spirits to sit a whole moneth nitting out a lousie beggarly Pamphlet.
c.1614		Beaumont & Fletcher Bonduca III v: Is not this better now than lousy loving?
1621		Jonson Gypsies Metamorphosed 45: You must be ben-bowsy and sleepie and drowsie and lazie and lowsie.
c.1626		Dick of Devonshire in Bullen II (1883) I ii: That word [pox] heard By any lowsy Spanish Picardo Were worth our two neckes. Ile not curse my Diegos.
1640		Fletcher Night-Walker Act V: Sirra watchman, You rugamuffin, turne you louzie beares skinne.
1657		Marlowe Lascivious Queen II iv: A pox upon those lowzy gaberdines.
1661		Antidote Against Melancholy in Ebsworth Choyce Drollery (1876) 149: ’Tis not lowzy Beer, boyes, / But wine, that makes a Poet.
1672		Wycherley Love in a Wood III i: Your Spanish Hose are scurvy, ugly Hose, lousie Hose, and stinking Hose.
1683		On the Relief of Vienna n.p.: The Turkish Whigs be damn’d, And lowsie Holwel in their Head, Who our blue Saints has shamm’d.
c.1687		‘Mac O Bonniclabbero of Drogheda’ Bog Witticisms LV 53: Who, but the Devil, or his Daughter would have to do with such a Lousie, Scabbed, Bog-trotting Son of a Whore?
1698		N. Ward London Spy II 43: The two Lousie Subjects of the pickled God.
1705–07		N. Ward Hudibras Redivivus I:4 26: Or sure he would not have preferr’d / His Lousy Tinker to My Lord.
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy I 145: For shame let lowsie Taylors / No more your Love trapan.
1733		Laugh and Be Fat 18: He was grown such a nasty, lousy Sloven, that no Body would venture to lie with him.
1748		Smollett Roderick Random (1979) 141: He swore woundily at the lieutenant, and called him lousy Scotch son of a whore.
1751		Smollett Peregrine Pickle (1964) 175: What! Dost think that Hawser Trunnion, who has stood the fire of so many floating batteries, runs any risk from the lousy pops of a landman?
1762		Bridges Homer Travestie (1764) I 70: I’ve a great mind, you lousy wizard, / To lay my fist across your mazzard.
1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 540: Go drub yon’ lousy rogues, and then / We’ll in a twink be back again.
1788		‘The Proker’ Songs (publ.?) 7: Bad look to you, you Bitch, and your dirty lousy Proker.
a.1796		‘Wha’ll Maw Me Now?’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) II 263: But deevil tak’ the lousy loon.
1804		J. Wetherell Adventures of John Wetherell (1954) 11 Jan. 105: We can run out to see again, and not be made cowardly prisoners by them lousey Frenchmen.
1821–5		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 203: Mr Fyke, to order me off [...] to ship your lousy stores.
1839		in R.W. Griswold Correspondence (1898) 24: I never will stand tamely by, and see the True Friends of Freedom assailed with lousy lies from any quarter.
1855		‘The Lousy Miner’ Lingenfelter et al. eds Songs of the Amer. West (1968) 98: I’m a lousy miner in search of shining gold.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 31/2: I find that the lousey wretch has stuck to one hundred and fifty ‘quid’.
1875		M. Thompson Hoosier Mosaics 120: What the — did you git onto my train for without ticket or money? How do you expect to travel without paying, you — lousy vagabond!
1880		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 3 Jan. 14/2: ‘Now, open your head, and I’ll blow it off your lousy body’.
1907		C. M’Govern By Bolo and Krag 199: They was betting fifty beans on a lousy bob-tailed flush.
1914		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 10 June 3/2: Lots of galls of tender ages / Do hang around that lousey shop.
1913–14		E. O’Neill The Web in Ten ‘Lost’ Plays (1995) 58: Git outa here, yuh lousy skunk, and stay out!
1921		Dos Passos Three Soldiers 155: Chris, come away from those stinking uniforms and you’ll feel like a human being with the sun on your flesh instead of like a lousy soldier.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 35: Here, take the lousy money.
1938		G. Kersh Night and the City 101: They [...] whine for money like a lousy beggar.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 284: Who wants to swap me a couple cigarettes for a couple lousy stogies.
1958		E. Dundy Dud Avocado (1960) 212: You dirty-lousy-double-crossing-son-of-a-bitch.
1959		A. Zugsmith Beat Generation 30: Dave drew a photostated composite sketch of Arthur Garrett from his pocket. ‘Lousy,’ he said.
1964		Larner & Tefferteller Addict in the Street (1966) 73: I told him, I said, look Nicky, I did something lousy.
1976		‘Hergé’ Tintin and the Picaros 41: And what about me, left to rot in a lousy mud hut?
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 31: ‘You lousy friggin’ dropkick’.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 68: The doctor was quite a lousy liar.
1997		D. Farson Never a Normal Man 225: I have always been a lousy drunk, wild, euphoric and abusive after that beautiful preamble.
2000		Guardian Mag. 20 May 35: When he was young he was a lousy writer.
2012		T.P. McCauley ‘Lady Madeline’s Dive’ in ThugLit Sept./Oct. [ebook] ‘He cooked the whole thing up. Him and that lousy bastard’.

2. (US) small, insignificant.

1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 6: I never charg’d the warden [...] But paid the charge and swept the gallery / Out of my own poor lousy salary.
1797		Bridges Burlesque Homer (4th edn) II 52: One lousy tombstone serv’d ’em all.
1837		‘A Pullet in Leg Alley Stood’ in Ri-tum Ti-tum Songster 18: A cove [...] offered her a lousy deuce.
1934		R. Chandler ‘Finger Man’ in Pearls Are a Nuisance (1964) 109: You have a lousy chance to prove you weren’t in on it.
1941		transcription of song ‘Watercourse Blues in in Gordon & Nemerov Lost Delta Found (2005) 216: Baby you know I’m broke an’ hungry, even ain't got a lousy dime.
1954		B. Appel Sweet Money Girl 63: ‘What’s a lousy forty thousand?’ I grinned.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 95: Just be sure to pick a live one. Not some bum with a few lousy bucks.
2000		F.X. Toole Rope Burns 16: A lousy twenty-five hundred dollars for ten rounds.

3. (Aus.) mean, tight-fisted.

1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 306: You lousy, sweatin’ old shyster you.
1946		Sun (Sydney) 29 Sept. 15/1: When Aussie kicked off the Choom Government was too lousy to mint enough coins for themselves let alone send a boatload out for the cons to play swy with.
1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 196: If the manager gets lousy we can all come back here.
1990		R.G. Barratt ‘Sleaze Stays When the Party’s Over’ in What Do You Reckon (1997) [ebook] I’m too lousy to pay for a root.
1996		(con. 1970) G. Moxley Danti-Dan in McGuinness Dazzling Dark (1996) I iv: Don’t be lousy Ber. Come on, two fucking minutes, that’s all.

4. (US Und.) corrupt.

1976

Sutton & Linn Where The Money Was (2004) 263: A cop in jail [...] The guards hate him because he went lousy.