Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. US) a general term of abuse, unpleasant, untrustworthy, dishonest etc.

[1576		Tyde taryeth no Man in Collier (1863) II 20: corage: Why is not No-good-neighbourhood thy name? neighbor: Put away No-good, and see how it will frame].
c.1895		H. Morant ‘Beyond His Jurisdiction’ in Cutlack Breaker Morant (1962) 144: Bid him roll his dusty swag up, or I’ll break his no-good neck.
1908		J. Kelley Thirteen Years in Oregon Penitentiary 81: Stealing cologne bottles and razors shows that you are a no-good stiff.
1914		E. O’Neill Abortion in Ten ‘Lost’ Plays (1995) 177: A lot of lazy no-good dudes spongin’ on your old men.
1921		Lillyn Browne ‘Bad Land Blues’ 🎵 And when I meet that baby who stole my lady, / That no-good puppy, / There ain’t no maybe!
1938		Jazz Gillum ‘Reefer Head Woman’ 🎵 She said she was gonna leave me, goin’ to some no-good town.
1942		P. Wylie Generation of Vipers 97: It is common people who scream for blood at prize fights. It is common people who, acting concertedly, vote fools into Congress [...] Common people run our rackets. Common no-good sons of bitches.
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 125: The screw’s a nogood guy.
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 257: How do we keep this no-good son-of-a-bitch from giving public testimony?
1958		P. Larkin letter 28 Oct. in Thwaite Sel. Letters (1992) 291: What dreary no-good cunts these foreigners are.
1964		A. Bennett God the Stonebreaker 4: A ‘no-good mulatto’ man who would not look after his own offspring.
1967		J. Schaefer Mavericks (1968) 140: He had a couple of sneakin’ no-good bums that’d do anythin’ for a dollar.
1970		G.F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 101: Perhaps the firm were simply no-good bastards.
1971		R.D. Pharr S.R.O. (1998) 16: Whiskey and a no-good woman was the story of my life.
1980		M. Thelwell Harder They Come 226: ’Im is a no-good low-down rascal man.
1983		C. Knight We Shall Not Die 57: Get out, you no-good, thieving bastards!
1987		(con. 1930s) L. Redmond Emerald Square 135: Yez dirty crowd a’ no good bowsies!
1992		R.C. Cruz Straight Outta Compton 71: Billy was bleeding, thanks to that no-good dum-ass Black bitch Shawana.
2000		R.G. Barrett Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] ‘The cook was a shifty no-good prick’.
2005		L. Theroux Call of the Weird (2006) 101: He’s a no-good son of a bitch.
2011		D.R. Pollock Devil All the Time 9: ‘They’s a lot of no-good sonofabitches out there’.
2012		E. Petulengro Caravans & Wedding Bands 51: That no-good piece of shite.