lousy
adj/ˈlaʊ.zi/
Etymology From Middle English lousy, lowsy, lousi, equivalent to louse + -y.
7 senses
› Unwanted and often unpleasant.
1
Colloquial Insufficient and less than expected of a good thing.
- I worked here all summer and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
2
Colloquial Remarkably bad; of poor quality.
- No offense, but his cooking is lousy.
- Must have been a lousy school.2021 September 15, Unknown minister, Singapore Parliament debates on 15 September 2021:
3
Colloquial Dirty or untidy.
- I cleaned the lousy garage.
4
Colloquial Underhanded; mean; contemptible.
- I've had enough of lousy backstabbing at this place.
5
Colloquial Unwell; under the weather.
- I caught a cold and I've been feeling lousy all week.
6
Infested with lice.
7
Colloquial, Usually, With with Filled or packed (with something, usually bad).
- The place was lousy with students.
- The benignant influence crept like gas through the Row. […] And triangulation might possibly have located it in the Palace Flophouse and Grill. Certainly the Palace was lousy with it. Mack and the boys were charged. Jones was seen to leap from his chair only to do a quick tap dance and sit down again.1945, John Steinbeck, Cannery Row:
1 more example
- [I talked to] Annabeth about the Greek gods who hung out in New York and made her life difficult. Apparently North America was lousy with ancient gods. We had a full-blown infestation.2016, Rick Riordan, The Hammer of Thor, page 6:
- Derived terms
- lousily, lousiness, lousy evil, unlousy
- Related terms
- cootie, crab louse, crabs, louse, pubic louse, licey