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heck

1 American  
[hek] / hɛk /

interjection

  1. (used as a mild expression of annoyance, rejection, disgust, etc.).

    What the heck do you care?

noun

  1. something remarkable of its kind (usually used in the phraseheck of a ).

    That was a heck of an impressive speech. Have one heck of a good time.

idioms

  1. as heck (used as a mild intensifier).

    I say he's guilty as heck.
heck 2 American  
[hek] / hɛk /

noun

  1. a comblike attachment on a loom, for guiding the warp threads as they are dressed for the warp beam.

  2. a device that guides yarn onto the bobbin of a spinning wheel.

  3. 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 1 British  
/ hɛk /

interjection

  1. a mild exclamation of surprise, irritation, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
heck 2 British  
/ hɛk /

noun

  1. dialect a frame for obstructing the passage of fish in a river

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“David Rebibo is a heck of a coach,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times

Still, once you realize what the heck it is you’re watching, you might just settle in for a more diverting — or less terrible — time than first expected.

From Los Angeles Times

Heck, who could sell these stocks when they outperformed consistently and had such dynamic stories?

From Barron's

Anthropic, developer of the large language model Claude, “has committed to covering 100% of electricity price increases that consumers face from our data centers,” the company’s external affairs head, Sarah Heck, said in a post on X during the State of the Union address.

From MarketWatch

Anthropic, developer of the large language model Claude, “has committed to covering 100% of electricity price increases that consumers face from our data centers,” the company’s external affairs head, Sarah Heck, said in a post on X during the State of the Union address.

From MarketWatch

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

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.