From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbad pennybad pennyBritish EnglishDIFFICULT someone or something that causes trouble and is difficult to avoid Sure enough, Steve turned up like the proverbial bad penny (=suddenly appeared). → bad
Examples from the Corpus
bad penny• I took long breaks away from training and would then reappear like the proverbial bad penny, as if I had never been away. 