Helluv
adj, adv, contraction, intj, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Intensifier, signifies an abundance of a thing; much or many. Northern-California, not-comparable, slang
"Hey, if you guys get the munchies, there's helluv candy in the cupboard."
- 1 Intensifier (modifies verbs); to a large extent; totally; very much. Northern-California, not-comparable, slang
"Dude, I helluv want to go to the show with you, but I'm soooo grounded."
- 2 Intensifier (modifies adjectives); to a large degree; extremely; exceedingly. Northern-California, not-comparable, slang
"That new girl is helluv sexy."
- 1 For sure; totally; hell yeah; used as a strong affirmation of something that was just said, accomplished, or revealed. Northern-California, slang
""Hey, you wanna come to the concert tonight?" "Oh, helluv!""
- 1 Elision of "hell of". colloquial, contraction
"Oh, you goddam-betcha, Julie, it's one helluva lot better — one HELLUV A lot better — to be born dirt-poor. Course then you get to stay that way the rest of your life."
- 2 Elision of "the hell of". colloquial, contraction
"“Helluv it is,” he grumbled. “I was thinking of marrying her myself. Wrote her a letter, but it didn't get posted in time.”"
- 3 Elision of "hell have" colloquial, contraction
"Where the helluv you been?"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Hey, if you guys get the munchies, there's helluv candy in the cupboard."
Etymology
From "hell of (a)", like hella (originally Northern California slang). See also Wikipedia:Hella (word).
Shortened form, or elision, of phrases like "hell of" or "hell have", approximating casual speech in writing.
Related phrases
More for "helluv"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.