Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Ne'er-do-well \Ne'er"-do-well`\, n.
   A person who never does, or fares, well; a good for nothing.

         The idle and dissolute ne'er-do-wells of their
         communities.                             --Harper's
                                                  Mag.

Source : WordNet®

ne'er-do-well
     n : an idle worthless person [syn: {goldbrick}, {goof-off}, {good-for-nothing},
          {good-for-naught}]