heck

[ hek ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

interjection

(used as a mild expression of annoyance, rejection, disgust, etc.):
What the heck do you care?

something remarkable of its kind (usually used in the phrase heck of a ):
That was a heck of an impressive speech. Have one heck of a good time.

heck

[ hek ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

a comblike attachment on a loom, for guiding the warp threads as they are dressed for the warp beam.
a device that guides yarn onto the bobbin of a spinning wheel.
a gridlike arrangement of glass or metal rods below the hooks on a Jacquard loom, used for lifting all harness eyes equally or evenly.

heck

/ hɛk /

heck

/ hɛk /

Origin of heck¹

First recorded in 1850–55; euphemistic alteration of hell

Origin of heck²

1300–50; Middle English hekke, Old English hecc, variant of hæcc hatch ²

Origin of heck¹

C19: euphemistic for hell

Origin of heck²

C14: variant of hatch ²

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Browse