DCHP-1 Online

bad man West and North

• 1 Hist. a desperado; outlaw; rustler.

  • 1859  Now I ask . . . what did the men mean by surrounding the constable . . . it was they who tacitly aided the bad men to rescue the prisoner.
  • 1958  On the hill . . . still stands the gnarled pine tree, a frayed rope dangling from it, and graves of badmen who met justice-in-the-rough upon it.

• 2 a person who becomes disorderly, often breaking the law, while under the influence of liquor.

  • 1898  Too much "fire water" in town this week after a long dry spell was the indirect cause of several "bad men" visiting the barracks and police courts.
  • 1958  There were few "bad men" in Fortymile; . . . it was a community that hewed surprisingly closely to the Christian ethic.

• 3 Slang in hockey, a player who earns a great many penalties for rough, illegal play.

  • 1958  [He] had developed into a scoring champ after abandoning a career as hockey "bad man."
  • 1964  . . . Brewer, the Leafs' bad man, speared Stan Mikita. . . .