heck
See also: Heck
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
Late 19th century, originally dialectal northern English, from a euphemistic alteration of hell.[1][2]
InterjectionEdit
heck
- (euphemistic) Hell.
- What the heck are you doing?
TranslationsEdit
euphemism of hell
NounEdit
heck (uncountable)
- (euphemistic) Hell.
- You can go to heck as far as I'm concerned.
Usage notesEdit
Heck usually only replaces hell in idiomatic expressions or as a generic intensifier or vulgarity. It is only rarely, and for intentionally jocular effect, used as a euphemism for the actual concept of hell.
SynonymsEdit
- See under hell.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
Etymology 2Edit
See hatch (“a half door”).
Alternative formsEdit
NounEdit
heck (plural hecks)
- The bolt or latch of a door.
- A rack for cattle to feed at.
- (obsolete) A door, especially one partly of latticework.
- A latticework contrivance for catching fish.
- (weaving) An apparatus for separating the threads of warps into sets, as they are wound upon the reel from the bobbins, in a warping machine.
- A bend or winding of a stream.
Derived termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
- ^ Wright, Joseph (1902) The English Dialect Dictionary[1], volume 3, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 125
Further readingEdit
- heck in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- heck in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
- heck at OneLook Dictionary Search
AnagramsEdit
GermanEdit
PronunciationEdit
Audio (file)
VerbEdit
heck
Middle EnglishEdit
NounEdit
heck
- Alternative form of hacche