Definitions
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective without merit
- noun an idle worthless person
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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So the kitchener weighed it out to him and the good-for-naught entered the shop, whereupon the man set the food before him and he ate till he had gobbled up the whole and licked the saucers and sat perplexed, knowing not how he should do with the cook concerning the price of that he had eaten, and turning his eyes about upon everything in the shop.
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"I don't know what would become of you, you good-for-naught, if I did!" returned Mammy.
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Then she would have gone and left them crying had not Robaccia, the blowsy wench and good-for-naught, wailed aloud and caught her by the knees.
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A good-for-naught lad may have stolen his nest, or a cat filched his young, or his sons and daughters flown away and left him; but he'll sing, for all that.
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"The lazy loon, the idle good-for-naught, to sit by the fire, and see the cakes burn, and never stir a finger."
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How little Will Shakespeare's father or his scandalized neighbors could have fancied that the scapegrace good-for-naught who left the town for the town's good would make it immortal; and, coming back to die and lie down forever beside the Avon, would bring a world of pilgrims to a new Mecca, the shrine of the supreme unique poet of all human time?
The Best Short Stories of 1920 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story
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But -- as for thee, thou good-for-naught, thou wicked elf -- aha! would'st dare leave thy poor old grannam weak and 'fenceless?
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"Mademoiselle," I said, speaking in the natural tones of that good-for-naught Gaston de Luynes, "I have already decided, and you have my permission to accompany your father."
The Suitors of Yvonne: being a portion of the memoirs of the Sieur Gaston de Luynes
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For what do I pay you, and feed you, and house you, good-for-naught, if you are to fail me whenever I need the things you call your brains?
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"Have you a toothache too, good-for-naught?" quoth the frate.
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