ne'er-do-well

English

WOTD – 31 May 2007

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

"Ne'er-do-well" is a contracted compound word stemming from the combination of the words "never do well."

“Never-do-well” is sometimes used as an offhand, expanded version of the phrase, where “never” is not contracted. The usage of this version is often attributed to the northeastern United States.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛə.duˌwɛl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛɹ.duˌwɛl/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

Noun

ne'er-do-well (plural ne'er-do-wells)

1. A person without a means of support; an idle, worthless person; a loafer; a person who is ineffectual, unsuccessful, or completely lacking in merit; a good-for-nothing.
   • 1933, The Commonweal, volume 19, page 241:

     So they have trooped forth to organize village down-and-outs and ne'er-do-wells into would-be combat units.

   • 2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 1, 26:

     Clara's father, a trollish ne'er-do-well who spent most of his time in brothels and saloons, would disappear for days and weeks at a stretch, leaving Clara and her mother to fend for themselves.

2. A person who is up to no good; a rogue.

Adjective

ne'er-do-well (comparative more ne'er-do-well, superlative most ne'er-do-well)

1. Showing the characteristics of a ne'er-do-well: indolent, worthless, or roguish.
   • 1859, George Sargent, The Story of a Pocket Bible, The Religious Tract Society, page 392:

     The brother who sought me out and would have redeemed me from the power of darkness, but he couldn't; and has robbed himself of joy and comfort in life to keep his ne'er-do-well brother from starvation; who has paid his debts over and taken him out of jail again and again....

   • 2010, Susan Cayleff, Wash and Be Healed: The Water-Cure Movement and Women's Health, Temple University Press, page 88:

     Before the 1850s, when women figured most prominently in textile employment, the reasons that caused women to seek paid labor—a ne'er-do-well husband, economic distress of the natal family, or a belief that factory work was a road to self-betterment—often precluded their considering an away-from-home cure.

   • '2013, Kelly Hager, Dickens and the Rise of Divorce: The Failed-Marriage Plot and the Novel Tradition, Ashgate Publishing Limited, page 146:

     Think of the scorn with which Nicholas Nicklebys Madame Mantalini treats her ne'er-do-well husband from whom she insists "on being separated and left to myself...."

Synonyms

• good-for-nothing
• nogoodnik
• vagabond
• never-do-well

Translations

good-for-nothing — see good-for-nothing

See also

• ne'er