helluva

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛləvə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Adjective

helluva (not comparable)

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!

   • 1999, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 96, Fantasy House, page 151:

     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” […]

Adverb

helluva (not comparable)

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

Translations

very, intense, intensely

• Swedish: sjujäkla, sjujävla

See also

• heckuva
• hella