the hell
adv/ðəˈhɛl/
1
Sometimes, Vulgar Used to indicate emphatic rejection of an assertion or request.
- A: I can run faster than a horse. B: The hell you can!
- 'You stay here, sir,' O'Bannion instructed. 'The hell I will,' Feeney said.1990, Stephen King, The Moving Finger:
2
Sometimes, Vulgar Expletive used for emphasis, typically after an interrogative term or relative pronoun.
- What the hell was that?
- I thought we were all sisters and brothers I guess I am not accepted. I sure wish the hell I stayed in the closet.1971, Allan Oxside, “Oxside In A Closet”, in Body Politic, number 1, page 3:
2 more examples
- D'Allesandro was particularly adept at that kind of flash-forward-then-backward-all-the-hell-over-the-place kind of narrative and like a tourist following a well-seasoned guide, you never lose track of the line.1989 December 17, Christopher Wittke, “On The Edge In The '80s”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 23, page 11:
- “Whoever the hell is running the place now has made a terrible mess of it,” he said... “Not in the sense that it looks different, or that it isn't pretty much permanently full. It's just that the food as gone utterly down the khazi.”2009 February 19, Gareth Lewis, Southern Daily Echo: