| 1. | a contemptible or thoroughly disagreeable person; scoundrel. |
| 2. | a disagreeable matter; a chore. |
| 3. | (used as an exclamation of impatience, irritation, astonishment, etc.) |
| son of a bitch Vulgar n. pl. sons of bitches A person regarded as thoroughly mean or disagreeable. interj. Used to express annoyance, disgust, disappointment, or amazement. |
son of a bitch
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"Abide þou þef malicious!"Probably the most common American vulgarity from about the middle of the eighteenth century to the middle of the twentieth" [Rawson]. Abbreviated form SOB from 1918. Mencken, complaining of the tepidity of the American vocabulary of profanity, writes that the toned-down form son-of-a-gun "is so lacking in punch that the Italians among us have borrowed it as a satirical name for an American: la sanemagogna is what they call him, and by it they indicate their contempt for his backwardness in the art that is one of their great glories." ["The American Language," 4th ed., p.317-8]
Biche-sone þou drawest amis
þou schalt abigge it ywis!"
["Of Arthour & of Merlin," c.1330]
son of a bitch
Also, SOB; son of a gun. A mean, disagreeable individual, as in He was regarded as the worst son of a bitch in the industry, or He ran out on her? What an SOB, or He's a real son of a gun when it comes to owing you money. The first of these terms, calling a man the son of a female dog, dates from the early 1300s and is considered vulgar enough to have given rise to the two variants, both euphemisms. The first variant, an abbreviation, dates from World War I. The second, first recorded in 1708, gave rise to the theory that it originally applied to baby boys born at sea (in the days when women accompanied their husbands on long voyages). The explanation seems unlikely, especially since presumably some of the babies were girls. It also once meant the illegitimate son of a soldier (or "gun"). More probably, however, son of a gun evolved simply as a euphemism for the first term and appealed because of its rhyme. Both it and son of a bitch are also put as interjections expressing surprise, amazement, disgust, or disappointment, as in Son of a bitch! I lost my ticket, or I'll be a son of a gun! That must be the governor.