helluva

adj, adv — 2 senses

helluva

adj

/ˈhɛləvə/

Etymology Written form of a reduction (relaxed pronunciation) of hell of a.

1

Colloquial (A) hell of a; extreme.

  • They had a helluva row over where to spend the weekend.
  • Where were you? - Lost in Paris. - Wow! Helluva place to get lost!
1 more example
  • Well, I got a Muppet News Flash for you, pal; it is possible for a three-year-old girl who loves to watch ducks and collect sea shells to feel bad, and then a bit worse, and then a whole helluva lot worse, and finally lousy in a way that requires machines and tubes and pills and catheters and before you know it you’re sitting in the front pew at good ol’ St. Fracis de Sales Church on Granville Street along with your wife and parents and inlaws and X-amount of your balding schoolboy chums listening to some second-rate organist eviscerate Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze”[…]1999, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 96, Fantasy House, page 151:

helluva

adv

Etymology Written form of a reduction (relaxed pronunciation) of hell of a.

1

Colloquial ; (expletive) (A) hell of a; extremely or very.

  • We had a helluva good time at the party.
Derived terms
helluvalot
Related terms
hella, helluv, heckuva

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.