good riddance to bad rubbish
Language: English
Part of speech: intj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌɡʊd ˈɹɪd(ə)ns tə ˌbæd ˈɹʌbɪʃ/
ipa: /ˌɡʊd ˈɹɪdns tə ˌbæd ˈɹʌbɪʃ/
ipa: /-ˈɹəbɪʃ/
Forms: form: good riddance of bad rubbish
Etymology: Possibly an elaboration of good riddance, contrasting the word good with bad, and using the word rubbish to form an alliteration with riddance.
Senses: examples: text: “Franklin quit today.” “Well, good riddance to bad rubbish!”
text: And the pedlar takes the devil! ha, ha, ha!—Good riddance to bad rubbish.
ref: 1838, [Richard Brinsley Peake], “The Bottle Imp”, in Benjamin [Nottingham] Webster, editor, The Acting National Drama, […], volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, act II, scene iii, page 23:
text: "A good riddance of bad rubbish!" said that wrathful old lady. "Get along with you, or I'll have you carried out!"
ref: [1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “A Separation”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 438:
text: "Mrs. Grimes, you are so good—but how can I sleep when poor Peter is at home by himself dead drunk?" / "Why, he is as happy as a lord mayor." / "But the house might take fire!" / "If it should, it wouldn't matter much if he went with it—good riddance to bad rubbish, say I!"
ref: 1853, A[nna] Maria Collins, chapter 4, in Mrs. Ben Darby: Or The Weal and Woe of Social Life, 2nd edition, Cincinnati, Oh.: Moore, Anderson, Wilstach & Keys, […], →OCLC, page 35:
text: "I'd rather stay in an asylum all my life than go back to that man," said Aunt Lois. / "Wal, you see she did n't," said Sam; "her friends they made him make a settlement on her, poor woman, and he cleared out t' England." / "Good riddance to bad rubbish," said my grandmother.
ref: 1869, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Wedding After-talks at Oldtown”, in Oldtown Folks, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 573:
text: "Well, he didn't do much work," admitted the deacon. / "While he ate enough for two boys. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say."
ref: 1875, Horatio Alger, Jr., “Sam Takes French Leave”, in The Young Outlaw: Or, Adrift in the Streets (Tattered Tom, Second Series; 2), Philadelphia, Pa.; Chicago, Ill.: The John C. Winston Co., →OCLC, page 87:
text: It's good riddance to bad rubbish, but it's likely to make trouble for me yet.
ref: 1903 November 27, [Francis Worcester Doughty], “The Bradys and Brady the Banker; or, The Secret of the Old Santa Fe Trail”, in Secret Service. Old and Young King Brady, Detectives, number 253, New York, N.Y.: Frank Tousey, →OCLC, chapter I (The Bradys and Mr. Brady), page 3, column 1:
text: "She's left." / "Yes, I know. Drink some coffee." / "She's left." / Tod knew that he put a great deal of faith in sayings, so he tried one. / "Good riddance to bad rubbish."
ref: 1939, Nathanael West, “The Day of the Locust”, in The Complete Works of Nathanael West, London: Picador in association with Secker & Warburg, published 1983, →ISBN, chapter 24, page 398:
text: It's not likely any folks here'd stop him going, is it? Good riddance to bad rubbish is what I say.
ref: 1999, Ruth Rendell, chapter 8, in Harm Done, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, page 115:
text: Miraculously, Mrs Dooley had brought us a box of eggs. ‘You must be psychic!’ my ma said, showing her the broken ones in the bin. ‘Good riddance to bad rubbish,’ Mrs Dooley said.
ref: 2008, Kate Thompson, chapter 4, in Creature of the Night (A Definitions Book), London: Random House Children’s Books, published 2009, →ISBN, page 11:
text: So the lost sheep must have been an exceedingly troublesome old rogue and many shepherds would probably have sighed with relief that that one had disappeared and said with considerable relief, ‘Good riddance to bad rubbish.’ But the Good Shepherd refuses to give up on the recalcitrant one.
ref: 2014, Desmond Tutu, “You are Loved”, in In God’s Hands: The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2015, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury USA, →ISBN, page 78:
glosses: Used to indicate that one welcomes the departure of someone or something: good riddance!