▪ I. ‖ heller1
(ˈhɛlər)
Also 6–7 haller.
[Ger. heller, in MHG. häller, haller, ‘usually assumed to be named from the imperial city Schwäbisch-Hall, where it was first coined’ (Kluge).]
A small coin formerly current in Germany, worth half a pfennig; also a coin = 1/100 of a crown (1/10 of a penny) issued in Austria between 1893 and 1916.
| 1575 Brieff Disc. Troubl. Franckford (1642) 134 The summe which they gave growed to so much as thirteene, not Sallers but Hallers or Pennings. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 287 (Stanf.) At Nurnberg..two haller make one pfenning. 1842 Motley Corr. (1889) I. iv. 102 The sister gave two hellers a day to the workmen. 1895 Baedeker's Eastern Alps Introd. 11 The new Austrian monetary unit is the Crown (Krone) = 100 Heller. These new coins, however, are still comparatively rare. |
▪ II. heller2 U.S. slang.
(ˈhɛlə(r))
[f. hell v.2 + -er1.]
One who ‘hells around’.
| 1895 W. C. Gore in Inlander Nov. 67 Heller, a remarkable person. ‘He is a heller at foot-ball.’ 1933 Amer. Speech VIII. i. 81/2 Heller, one who is unusually daring or aggressive, intensified usually as a regular heller. 1939 J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath viii. 107 Tom grinned affectionately at him. ‘Ain't he a heller?’ he said. 1959 Listener 17 Dec. 1086/1 Jack Harrick, the old hillbilly satyr or ‘heller’. |