Meaning of bad penny | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A person or thing which is unpleasant, disreputable, or otherwise unwanted, especially one which repeatedly appears at inopportune times.
   idiomatic
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bad, penny: A counterfeit or damaged penny.

Examples

“"Felix Marchand'll have much money—bad penny as he is," continued Christine in her normal voice.”

“Pierce remembered Hilda's prophecy that her indigent husband would turn up, like a bad penny.”

“But as the perennial bad penny of British political life, he keeps turning up at embarrassing moments.”

“And in respect to bad halfpence he advises that none be taken at turnpikes, whose keepers buy bad halfpence by the pound, and circulate them largely on the specious principle of giving and taking–that is–they take one bad penny from a horseman to day, and when he changes a sixpence to-morrow, give him five, none of which they probably ever see again, until they are found in that quarter where they can buy them by the weight.”

CEFR level