- helluva
- helluva 1910, attempt to represent the casual pronunciation of expression hell of a _____, which is attested from 1776 (see HELL (Cf. hell)).
Etymology dictionary. 2014.
helluva
Look at other dictionaries:
helluva — (hell of a) hell·uv·a || helÉ™vÉ™ heck of a, remarkable, special, extraordinary (Slang) … English contemporary dictionary
helluva — ☆ helluva [hel′ə və ] adj. phonetic sp. of HELL OF A (see phrase under HELL) … English World dictionary
helluva — [[t]he̱ləvə[/t]] ADJ: a/one ADJ n (emphasis) Some people say a helluva or one helluva to emphasize that something is very good, very bad, or very big. [INFORMAL] It taught me a helluva lot about myself... The man did one helluva job getting it… … English dictionary
Helluva — 1. spelling of the phrase hell of a, used as an intensifier to denote a very good or extreme example of something: We had a helluva good time ; helluva guy ; helluva shock ; 2. (rare) extremely … Dictionary of Australian slang
helluva — Australian Slang 1. spelling of the phrase hell of a, used as an intensifier to denote a very good or extreme example of something: We had a helluva good time ; helluva guy ; helluva shock ; 2. (rare) extremely … English dialects glossary
helluva — /ˈhɛləvə/ (say heluhvuh) adjective Colloquial 1. very good: he s a helluva fellow. 2. very bad: we had a helluva time. 3. (an intensifier): *There s a helluva lot of places a shell can land except on you. –lawson glassop, 1944. {alteration of… …
helluva — hell|uv|a [ˈheləvə] adj, adv spoken [Date: 1900 2000; Origin: hell of a] used to emphasize that someone or something is very good, bad, big etc ▪ He s got a helluva temper. ▪ He s a helluva nice guy … Dictionary of contemporary English
helluva — hell|uv|a [ heləvə ] short form SPOKEN a/one helluva 1. ) used for emphasizing what you are saying 2. ) used for emphasizing how good something is: It was a helluva party! … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
helluva — UK [ˈheləvə] / US short form spoken a/one helluva used for emphasizing what you are saying; used for emphasizing how good something is It was one helluva party! … English dictionary
helluva — adjective hell of a; extreme They had a helluva row over where to spend the weekend … Wiktionary
