Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
billy-oh en · NOUN
Pronunciation
Meanings
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(dated, in the phrase 'like billy-oh', slang, uncountable) The greatest extent or degree of something; used in comparisons to indicate a superlative.
"'You know—if you've ever picked the scab of a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away.'"
1952, C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, HarperTrophy:"For the wooden fence leading up to the bridge had caught fire, and it was burning like billy oh."
1901, Edith Nesbit, The Wouldbegoods, T. Fisher Unwin:I bashed my thumb with a hammer, and it hurts like billy-oh.
"'Our old saw's as blunt as billy-oh! You couldn't cut butter with it!'"
1995, Marion Houldsworth, The Morning Side of the Hill, Boolarong Press:
Forms