Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
Bad luck, failure, or evil befalling.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Ireland, UK, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Uncertain. Occurs in print at least as early as 1831, when Samuel Lover used the expression as one already long-established. He unambiguously stated the derivation of cess in the malediction bad cess to be an abbreviation of success. OED speculated that it either was from success or from assessment meaning a military or governmental exaction.
