Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- interj. Used as a mild oath.
- n. Slang Used as an intensive: had a heck of a lot of money; was crowded as heck.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A door with an open or latticework panel, or having its upper part hinged independently of the lower part.
- n. A latticed gate.
- n. A rack for holding fodder for cattle.
- n. A contrivance for catching fish, made in the form of latticework or grating: as, a salmon-heck.
- n. In weaving, one of two or more vertical frames with gratings having eyes for receiving the warp-threads, each eye receiving one thread of the warp, and the alternate vertical motion of the gratings separating the warp-threads to form an opening or shed for the passage of the shuttle.
- n. A latch or bolt, for fastening a door.
- n. The bend or winding of a stream.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Prov. Eng. The bolt or latch of a door.
- n. Prov. Eng. A rack for cattle to feed at.
- n. Prov. Eng. A door, especially one partly of latticework; -- called also
heck door . - n. A latticework contrivance for catching fish.
- n. (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.
- n. Prov. Eng. A bend or winding of a stream.
- n. colloq. hell; -- a euphemism. Used commonly in the phrase “What the
heck ”.
Etymologies
- Alteration of hell. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“You have to ask questions and verify just what in heck is being asked of your that's so important it needs your signature.”
“What the heck is a mature woman, who wants to remain fashionable, supposed to do?”
“At first, to be honest, I was a little demoralized – I mean, what the heck is the point of the euphoria I felt upon being named a New York Times Best Seller, if not to receive, what?”
“What the heck is the upside on these things that compensates for this risk?”
Bubbles and Macroeconomics, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“MexConnect. com Forums: Specific Focus: Mexican Kitchen: What the heck is a Timbiriche???”
“Yes | No | Report from madtrapper wrote 28 weeks 3 days ago what the heck is an ipod”
“So if it's killing jobs, then why the heck is there lower unemployment?”
“Willie Brown and Anonymous: What the heck is your problem?”
“Sarah what the heck is your real reason for quiting.”
“If one has no affordable coverage or denied due to a pre-existing condition, what the heck is a Republican "tax cut" going to provide?!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘heck’.
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one word exclamations
keep it rated G please, thanks!
( open list, randomness )zoiks, sheesh, gosh, shucks, jeez, woot, heck, thunderation, oops, gadzooks, what, hey and 90 more...
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Expletive Mimicry
Words that sound like words you shouldn't use.
frak, feldergarb, dagummit, daggum, gosh, darn, golly, fiddleesticks, fudge, gee, dang, shoot and 36 more...
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Utah Words
sluff, fetch, heck, yewt, coogar, flip, zoobie, dang, darn, jeez, frick, gosh
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Euphemisms for Curses
dang, darn, heck, shucks, shoot, dad gummit, dad burn it, gol dingit, sheesh, jeez, tarnation, consarn it and 8 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 1972 more... -
kringlan's Words
fecund, riposte, nebbish, nonpareil, deign, eschew, imbroglio, spelunking, fop, foofaraw, tundra, talon and 128 more...
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aliko's Words
deli, turkey, bodrum, deniz, sunny, seks, tatil, hava, zeeman, captain, kapitein, kaptan and 256 more...
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the_grene_kni3t's Words
acuarela, sesquipedalian, capital, métier, chap, cove, guv, guv'nor, ratiocination, transatlantique, ineffable, aural and 142 more...
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Worthless Firsts
ceci n'est pas un..., moire, heck, sold, homebuilder, motus, reread, new interface
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Rock. Star.
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gosh darn it to heck!
gosh, darn, heck, shoot, nuts, rats, poop, poo poo, dang, fiddlesticks, wash it, frick and 11 more...
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minced oaths
expostulations which originated as euphemisms for a stronger, socially unsanctioned, word or expression
strewth, zounds, land sakes, jiminy cricket, gorblimey, drat, begorrah, cripes, doggone it, gadzooks, odds bodkins, sacre bleu and 78 more...
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Like hell
Hell and its parts have many names. Here is a good sampling.
duat, perdition, abaddon, hades, the hot place, tartarus, yomi, jahannam, neterkhertet, diyu, the lake of fire ..., malebolge and 9 more...
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Watch Your Language, Young Man
Ahh, euphemisms. Every schoolkid's favorite pastime. They sound so naughty, but you can't really get in trouble for using them, can you?
darn, dang, shoot, shucks, flip, geez, gee whiz, golly, son of a gun, crud, shyster, holy schnikes and 58 more...
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entertaining
ruckus, platypus, silly, feckless, heck, blandish, canopy, kumquat, bandit, chicanery, recluse, wallow and 15 more...
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D'oh!
L I L B...Interjections!
zounds, egad, holy mackeral, yikes, gack, dingbustercaindec..., eek, shazam, gadzooks, blimey, odsbodkins, arrrrrrrgh and 73 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for heck.

piarkarim What the heck Mar 5, 2013
bilby Which came first, heck or fuck? Jan 30, 2009