"bad penny" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "bad pennies",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "bad penny (plural bad pennies)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "derived": [
        {
          "_dis1": "81 19",
          "word": "a bad penny always turns up"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "81 19",
          "word": "turn up like a bad penny"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1808, w:Edward Du Bois, “Bad Money”, in w:The Monthly Mirror, volume III New Series, London, Edinburgh: J Wright; Vernor, Hood and Sharpe; J. Murray; A. Constable & co, page 20",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bad, penny: A counterfeit or damaged penny."
      ],
      "id": "en-bad_penny-en-noun-~wsPs4i3",
      "links": [
        [
          "bad",
          "bad#English"
        ],
        [
          "penny",
          "penny#English"
        ],
        [
          "counterfeit",
          "counterfeit"
        ],
        [
          "damaged",
          "damaged"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "8 92",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1916, Gilbert Parker, chapter 4, in The World For Sale",
          "text": "\"Felix Marchand'll have much money—bad penny as he is,\" continued Christine in her normal voice.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1918, Rex Ellingwood Beach, chapter 17, in The Winds of Chance",
          "text": "Pierce remembered Hilda's prophecy that her indigent husband would turn up, like a bad penny.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1975 June 9, R. Z. Sheppard, “Springtime for Mosley (book review)”, in Time",
          "text": "But as the perennial bad penny of British political life, he keeps turning up at embarrassing moments.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person or thing which is unpleasant, disreputable, or otherwise unwanted, especially one which repeatedly appears at inopportune times."
      ],
      "id": "en-bad_penny-en-noun-gPJ9pGdG",
      "links": [
        [
          "unpleasant",
          "unpleasant"
        ],
        [
          "disreputable",
          "disreputable"
        ],
        [
          "unwanted",
          "unwanted"
        ],
        [
          "repeated",
          "repeated"
        ],
        [
          "inopportune",
          "inopportune"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A person or thing which is unpleasant, disreputable, or otherwise unwanted, especially one which repeatedly appears at inopportune times."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-bad penny.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4f/En-au-bad_penny.ogg/En-au-bad_penny.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/En-au-bad_penny.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "bad penny"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "a bad penny always turns up"
    },
    {
      "word": "turn up like a bad penny"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "bad pennies",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "bad penny (plural bad pennies)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1808, w:Edward Du Bois, “Bad Money”, in w:The Monthly Mirror, volume III New Series, London, Edinburgh: J Wright; Vernor, Hood and Sharpe; J. Murray; A. Constable & co, page 20",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bad, penny: A counterfeit or damaged penny."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "bad",
          "bad#English"
        ],
        [
          "penny",
          "penny#English"
        ],
        [
          "counterfeit",
          "counterfeit"
        ],
        [
          "damaged",
          "damaged"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1916, Gilbert Parker, chapter 4, in The World For Sale",
          "text": "\"Felix Marchand'll have much money—bad penny as he is,\" continued Christine in her normal voice.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1918, Rex Ellingwood Beach, chapter 17, in The Winds of Chance",
          "text": "Pierce remembered Hilda's prophecy that her indigent husband would turn up, like a bad penny.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1975 June 9, R. Z. Sheppard, “Springtime for Mosley (book review)”, in Time",
          "text": "But as the perennial bad penny of British political life, he keeps turning up at embarrassing moments.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person or thing which is unpleasant, disreputable, or otherwise unwanted, especially one which repeatedly appears at inopportune times."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "unpleasant",
          "unpleasant"
        ],
        [
          "disreputable",
          "disreputable"
        ],
        [
          "unwanted",
          "unwanted"
        ],
        [
          "repeated",
          "repeated"
        ],
        [
          "inopportune",
          "inopportune"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A person or thing which is unpleasant, disreputable, or otherwise unwanted, especially one which repeatedly appears at inopportune times."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-bad penny.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4f/En-au-bad_penny.ogg/En-au-bad_penny.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/En-au-bad_penny.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "bad penny"
}