hellacious, a. (and adv.) U.S. slang.
(hɛˈleɪʃəs)
[f. hell n. or hell- (after hellish, helluva, etc.) + -acious; cf. bodacious a.]
Terrific, tremendous; remarkable, enormous. Also as quasi-adv.
| 1934 Amer. Speech IX. 289/1 Hellacious, outstanding. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §20/9 Great; considerable in degree,..grand, hellacious. 1943 Sat. Even. Post 23 Oct. 20/3 A sample of Johnston dialogue runs, ‘We saw this little old airfield the Japs were using, so we gave it a strictly hellacious pasting.’ 1976 Business Week (Industrial ed.) 4 Oct. 38e/2 The CB industry is in a ‘hellacious slump’. 1981 Amer. Banker 5 June 2/1 ‘There was a hellacious turnout,’ recalled Mr. Ford of the election, ‘and that's what really killed us.’ 1986 R. J. Conley Back to Malachi vii. 45 He came down with a hellacious loud stomp, still hanging on to his left foot with his right hand. 1991 Daily Tel. 31 Jan. 1/1 During the heaviest ground fighting of the war so far, described by one American commander as ‘hellacious’, at least 12 American Marines were killed and two injured when two light armoured vehicles were hit. |