3. a defeat, a drubbing; an instance of exploitation or victimization.
1945 in Verbatim (1989) (Autumn) 5/2 Fxxxing…, a crushing (humiliating) defeat, a drubbing, a fleecing, a loss… We took a right regular fxxxing at Tobruk. 1958 in R. Schwitzgebel Streetcorner Research 50: If a kid went and fucked up, you just don’t go out and give him a fuckin’. 1967 H. S. Thompson Letter (Mar. 21) in Proud Highway (1997) 605: Every time he says, “Don’t look back,” I focus more intensely to the rear, the past, and the indefensible fucking I got on the Hell’s Angels contract. 1969 Black Panther (May 4) in P. S. Foner Black Panthers Speak (1970) 251: It’s made that way by the royal fucking that the working class gets in this country. 1997 Black Renaissance (Oct. 31): A person like Miles [Davis] never realized that he was giving almost everyone else a royal fucking (but if he had realized it he still wouldn’t have cared).
fucking adjective
1. that engages or is engaged in sexual intercourse. Also: used during sexual activity or for sexual gratification; relating to or describing sexual activity.
1528 MS Brasenose College, Oxford VII (marginal note) in Notes & Queries (1993) (Mar.) 29/2: O d [perhaps = damned] fuckin Abbot. 1571 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. 202: Than lat ws sing, O fukand flok! yor deid is not lyk yor say. 1680 Lord Rochester Poems 30: Through all the Town, the common Fucking Post,/On whom each Whore, relieves her tingling Cunt. 1880 Pearl (June) 427: The last improvement in dildoes—the new patent Fucking Machine. 1882 Boudoir 160: Hurray, hurray, she’s a maid no more,/But a f—g wife for evermore! ca1890 My Secret Life VIII. ix. 307 She was…a magnificent bit of fucking flesh, but nothing more. 1917–20 T. Dreiser Newspaper Days 233 [refers to 1893]: A large, Irish policeman…[said] “She’s a Goddamned drunken, fucking old whore, that’s what she is.” Ibid. 276: I’m living…with a Goddamned fucking whore. 1939 D. Thomas Letter (Sept. 11) in P. Ferris Collected Letters of Dylan Thomas (1987) 408: He’s always got the same cracks to grind, but, after all, good fucking books are few & far, & if you look at Tropic of Cancer as the best modern fucking book…then I know you must enjoy & admire it enormously. ca1942 ? H. Miller Opus Pistorum (typescript, Library of Congress) II. iii. 55: I am going to America and I am going to buy or make or have made a good mechanical cunt, a fucking machine, which runs by electricity. 1990 R. M. Polhemus Erotic Faith xi. 306: Just the sort of subjective, pompous, silly eloquence and wisdom that might be popping in the mind of some happily fucking human being. 2001 K. Rexroth in D. Meltzer San Francisco Beat 237: Did you ever take a chick into a motel in Southern California? It has a fucking machine in it. The bed fucks. You don’t have to do any work.
2. contemptible or despicable; goddamned; (often used with reduced force for emphasis). [Perhaps originally taken from opprobrious literal phrases such as fucking whore or fucking bitch (cf. sense 1, above). Fucking is probably the word intended in the 1857 quotation: the number of asterisks is correct for the length of the word, and any word less vulgar would only be partly omitted (compare representation of bitch in the same quotation); compare the identical use of asterisks in clearer contexts from the same era in the 1848 and 1854 quotations at FUCK, verb, definition 1a.]
1857 Suppressed Book about Slavery 211: The Dr… applied the lash. The Woman writhed under each stroke, and cried, “O Lord!”…The Doctor… thus addressed her (the congregation must pardon me for repeating his words). “Hush, you ******* b—h, will you take the name of the Lord in Vain on the Sabbath day?” 1888 Stag Party [unpaged]: Now this gives us another fucking scene, leastways it is not exactly a fucking scene, though it came near being one. It shows you Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. a1890–93 J. S. Farmer & W. E. Henley Slang & Its Analogues III 80: Fucking…Adj. (common).—A qualification of extreme contumely. 1915 E. Pound in Materer Pound/Lewis 18: God damn the fucking lot of ’em. 1915 in P. Adam-Smith ANZACS 168: You fucking xt I’ve only just got the f…g thing off the other f…g table you b..t..d. 1918 in [H. V. O’Brien] Wine, Women & War 205 [diary entry for Sept. 26]: Hi, Tommy, ’ere’s one o’ yer fuckin’ English hofficers wants t’ be saluted. 1914–21 J. Joyce Ulysses 595: I’ll wring the neck of any bugger says a word against my fucking king. Ibid. 600: I’ll do him in, so help me fucking Christ! 1921 Notes & Queries (Nov. 19) 415 [refers to WWI]: [Fucking] was used adjectivally to qualify almost every noun in the soldier’s vocabulary. 1923 R. McAlmon Companion Volume 51: What in fucking hell do youse think this is, a sunday school picnic, or a tea party? 1927 Immortalia 124: He’s a fucking son-of-a-bitch. 1928 in A. W. Read Lexical Evidence from Folk Epigraphy (1935) 54: You god Dam fucken fool. 1929–30 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel 77: Jack, it was a fucking shame. 1934 H. Roth Call It Sleep 231 [refers to ca1910]: Didja ever see dat new tawch boinin’ troo a goider er a flange er any fuck’n hunka iron? 1935 T. Wolfe Of Time & the River 598: I’ll kick duh f—kin’ s—t outa duh f—kin’ lot of yuh, yuh f—kin’ bastards, you. 1937 E. Hemingway To Have & Have Not 225: A man alone ain’t got no bloody fucking chance. 1938 in P. Oliver Blues Tradition 170: I…don’t deny my fuckin’ name. 1939 T. Sturgeon Ether Breather in D. Knight First Flight (1963) 88: He took his lips from hers, buried his face in her hair and said clearly: “I hate your — guts.” And that “—” was the most perfectly enunciated present participle of a four-letter verb I have ever heard. 1942 N. Algren Never Come Morning 39: Dey ain’t a book in da f— place. 1943 F. Wakeman Shore Leave 184: “The f—ing island,” Crewson corrected. 1948 J. G. Cozzens Guard of Honor 561: Said why the f— holy hell didn’t they get a boat from Lake Armstrong. 1951 D. R. Morris China Station 129: You’re a fucking liar. 1953–55 MacK. Kantor Andersonville 224: What?—with this fucking pistol of yours? 1955 J. O’Hara Ten North Frederick 365: I think you’re a fucking hypocrite. 1960 in A. Sexton Letters 97: My (fucking) book comes out March 1st in case you’ve forgotten. 1964 I. Faust Steagle 105: I can’t ever get a fuckin break. 1972 Captain John W. Young on lunar surface in Newsweek (May 1) 24: “I haven’t eaten this much citrus fruit in twenty years,” he snorted. “And I’ll tell you one thing: in another twelve f— days, I ain’t ever eating any more.” 1987 T. Wolfe Bonfire of Vanities 59: I said please pick up the fucking phone! I mean holy shit! 1992 Newsweek (Nov. 23) 32: We’re going to blow up your f— building. 1995 New Yorker (July 17) 50: I’m not your fucking scribe! I write what’s meaningful to me! 1999 New Yorker (Aug. 23) 124/1: Keep you fokkin’ head down! 2004 J. Meno Hairstyles of Damned 113: But Bobby is a fucking asshole. 2007 M. Wall W.A.R.: Unauthorized Biography of W. Axl Rose 267: You can’t even hold a fucking candle to that fucking guy.
fucking adverb
exceedingly; damned; (often used with reduced force for emphasis).
a1890–93 J. S. Farmer & W. E. Henley Slang & Its Analogues III 80: Fucking… Adv. (common) Intensive and expletive; a more violent form of bloody. 1918 in E. Wilson Prelude 210: The situation is fucking serious! 1918 E. Pound in J. Joyce Letters II 424: The world is too fucking with us. 1929 F. Manning Middle Parts of Fortune 6 [refers to WWI]: They can say what they bloody well like.… but we’re a fuckin’ fine mob. 1933 C. H. Ford & P. Tyler Young & Evil 31: It’s too fucking cold to be running around trying to raise fifty dollars. 1934 H. Miller in Letters to Emil (1989) 153: I’m getting fucking critical of people. Ibid. 156: Maybe I’ll get…fucking famous one day. 1942 H. Miller Roofs of Paris 250: I’m so fucking mad now that I don’t care what she does. 1948 N. Mailer Naked & Dead 10: Pretty fuggin funny. 1956 T. T. Chamales Never So Few 510: You’re asking too fucking much of me. 1963 S. Hayden Wanderer 126: You’re pretty fucking dumb, kid, you know that. 1964 A. Sexton in Letters 254: It’s too fucking hard to write. 1969–71 R. Kahn Boys of Summer 312: “Well, how did you get to play it like that?” “I worked, that’s fucking how.” 1973 R. Roth Sand in Wind 83: STOP! FUCKING STOP! 1977 R. Caron Go-Boy 152: I’ll be fucking seeing you later. 1979 B. Gutcheon New Girls 12: “You’re very fucking rude, Lisa,” said Jenny. 1987 T. Wolfe Bonfire of Vanities 47: Why did you just fucking stand there
, doing nothing? 1993 New Yorker (Jan. 11) 78: I’m getting out of here, you fucking crazy. 1998 B. Elton Blast from Past ii. 15: You can’t just fucking use me—talk to me at the office and refuse to speak when I call. 2004 J. Meno Hairstyles of Damned 113: I mean, he fucking told that girl Laura that she is his “ideal woman.” Can you even believe that shit?
-fucking- infix
(used for emphasis in the middle of a word or set phrase). See also ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY, FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC, GUARANFUCKINGTEE.
1921 Notes & Queries (Nov. 19) 415 [refers to WWI]: Words were split up to admit [fucking]: “absolutely” became “abso—lutely,” and Armentières became Armen—teers.” “Bloody”…quite lapsed as being too polite and inexpressive. 1939 (quotation at fucked duck). 1945 in Verbatim (Autumn, 1989) 5: Twenty-fxxxing-four faces to feed. Blame it on your anti-fxxx’n-aircraft units, mate. 1952 in M. Russ Last Parallel 13: Reveille goes tomorrow at four o’fuckin’ clock. 1957 J. Kerouac Letter (Oct. 1) in Selected Letters 1957–69 (1999) 66: Bottles of Old Granddad, big articles in Sat. Review, in World Telly, everyfuckingwhere, everybody mad, Brooklyn College wanted me to lecture to eager students and big geek questions to answer. 1962 E. Sagarin Anatomy of Dirty Words 148: Irrefuckinsponsible, imfuckinpossible, unfuckinconscious,… unfuckinsociable. 1965 C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land 86: I wondered if he thought he was Jesus or some fucking body like that. 1966 R. Fariña Been Down So Long 84: He gets himself infuckingvolved. 1968 W. Mares Marine Machine xii: Outfucking-standing, Private Smith! 1968 R. Gover JC 158: That’s the ee-fuckin-end of it. 1971 Playboy (Mar.) 189: Unfucking-believable! 1971 W. Sonzski Punch Goes the Judy 19: Tele-fucking-phone for you. 1972 D. Pearce Pier Head Jump 6: It’s un-fuckin-believable sometimes. Ibid. 156: Six o’fuckin’ clock. 1973 McA. Layne How Audie Murphy Died in Vietnam (unpaged): Do me one more favor, Private. Dis-a-fuckin-pear! 1975 C.W. Smith Country Music 230: How po-fucking-etic! 1978 R. Price Ladies’ Man 128: Go away. Go afuckin’way. 1985 in Maledicta 8 (1984–85) 244: Of all the cocksucking, cuntlicking, asshole ideas I’ve ever heard of, this is the most unfuckingbelievable. 1998 T. Junod in Esquire (Nov.) 136: Holy shit! It’s Mister Fucking Rodgers! 2002 B. James Middleman i. 11: If ever Corbett incorporated himself he would call the company No Man’s Fucking Land. 2004 D. Barry in J. Williams Wales, Half Welsh 200: Very calmly, she said, “Where is she, then? If you know.” “I don’t know.… She’s still back home. or in Timbuc-fucking-too, as far as I care.” 2008 A. Davies Mine All Mine 111: You’re such a clownus. They don’t speak Flemish in Netherfuckingland.
fucking A noun
the least bit.
1966 S. Stevens Go Down Dead 203: Youth workers. Shit on them. They don’t know fucking A about us.
fucking-A adverb, adjective, interjection, & infix [FUCKING + a (origin unknown; perhaps taken from a phrase such as “you’re fucking A-number-one right!”)]
1.a. Especially Military. yes, indeed; absolutely (correct); especially in phrase:[you’re] fucking-A, occasionally with elaborations, especially fucking-A [well] told.
1948 N. Mailer Naked & Dead 21 [refers to WWII]: “You’re fuggin ay,” Gallegher snorted. 1961 J. Jones Thin Red Line 137 [refers to WWII]: “No, I never.” “You fucking A you never.” 1961 J. Peacock Valhalla 181 [refers to 1953]: Fucking A. 1967 M. Crowley Boys in the Band 827: Fuckin’ A, Mac. 1967 D. Brelis Face of South Vietnam 29: “It can’t be the same kid.” “You’re fuckin’ A, it’s the same fuckin’ kid.” 1969 J. Briley Traitors 273: You’re fucking A I had to work. 1969 G. Sidney For the Love of Dying 146: Fuckingeigh. 1970 D. Wakefield Going All the Way 42 [refers to ca1950s]: Fuckin-A John Do. 1970 J. Bouton Ball Four vii. 389: We also talked about the expressions we used in high school.… If somebody said, “Are you taking Louise to the dance,” you had to say, “Fuckin’ ay I am.” 1970 D. Ponicsan Last Detail 171: Fucking-ay-John Ditty-Bag-well-told I don’t. 1970 W. C. Woods Killing Zone 143: Fuckin-A-well-told. Ibid. Fuckin-A-number-one-well-told. 1975 M. Larsen Runner 38: Your fucking A told he is. Ibid. “Fucking A told,” Antonino agreed. 1982 H. Berry Semper Fi, Mac 192 [refers to WWII]: “Hey, Bull, you going on liberty?” “Fuckin’ A doodle de doo.” 1985 J. Dillinger Adrenaline 199: “You were traumatized.” “You’re fuckin’ A we were traumatized.” 1978 W. B. McCloskey Jr. Highliners (1980) Epilog 385: “You’d take me back?” “You’re fuckin’ A!… Need airfare?” 1985 N. Kazan At Close Range (film): “Looks like a nice gun.” “Fucking-A-plus it’s a nice gun.” 1988 S. Rushdie Satanic Verses (1998) 245: Her sister nodded assent: “Crucial. Fucking A.”
b. (used to express astonishment, dismay, or recognition).
1979 C. Hiler Monkey Mountain [refers to 1972] 103: “Three pair and…the deuce of spades.”…“Fuckin’ A!” 1980 J. Carroll Land of Laughs 168: Fuck-ing A!…The guy who walked around the world! 1988 C. Eble Campus Slang 4: Fuckin’ A—exclamation, either positive or negative. “What? A Quiz today?…Fuckin’ A!” 1992 Vanity Fair (July) 130: Fookin’ A, she looks good. 1997 New Yorker (Aug. 18) 51: I jumped out of my chair. Fucking A! I love football! 1997 L. Yablonsky Story of Junk 253: Mary’s no junkie, just a mule, and now she’s stoned. Fucking A. 2001 S. King Dreamcatcher ii. 85: He lost his rifle, too. A brand-new Remington .30-.30, fuckin A, you won’t never see that again.
c. splendid.
1986 J. C. Stinson & J. Carabatsos Heartbreak Ridge 29: The night had gone from fucking-A to all-fucked-up in record time. 1986 R. Chapman New Dictionary of American Slang: We won? Fucking a! 1987 W. Pelfrey & J. Carabatsos Hamburger Hill 51 [refers to Vietnam War]: The ham’s fucking A, Ma.
2.a. Especially Military. (used as an intensifier); = FUCKING; god-damned. [The 1955 quotation is euphemistic.]
1955 J. Sack Here to Shimbashi 18: “That was a mighty freaking-A loud sneeze,” declared the sergeant major. 1968 E. Bullins In the Wine Time 389: That’s right…that’s fucken “A” right. 1986 L. Heinemann Paco’s Story 20: Guys with their chests squashed flat from fuckin’-A booby-trapped bombs. 1987 B. Raskin Hot Flashes 87: “That was too-fucking-A-much,” Joanne says tersely. 1998 Schizo (#3) [inside front cover]: I can see you cum and cum…and finally DIE, all at the same fuckin-A time! 2003 N.Y. Magazine (May 5) 32/2: “We’re the fucking-A greatest,” he told employees, and then, shirtless, rolled onto his desk and did twenty push-ups. 2003 M. Lewis Moneyball ix. 193: This is the time to make a fucking A trade.
b. FUCKING WELL; very well; very; absolutely.
1960 G. Sire Deathmakers 211 [refers to WWII]: You can fucking-aye say that again. Ibid. 262: You fucking-aye have spoken, Captain. 1968 N. C. Heard Howard Street 72: You fuckin’-A-right! 1970 Evergreen Review (Apr.) 66: You know fucking-A I deserve it, Krim, now where is it going to be published? 1970 P. Appleman In the Twelfth Year of the War 89: You hear, I do not fuckin’-aye intend it! 1972 D. Ponicsan Cinderella Liberty 8: No one knew who first got carried away…and wound up with the melodious inventive “Fuckin’ aye John Ditty Bag,” but since then any number of sailors have gilded the lily and produced things like, “Fuckin’ well told aye John Ditty Bag I be go to hell on a forklift!” 1973 B. Hirschfeld Generation of Victors 38: Now that is fucking-A important. 1973 “J. Godey” Pelham 151: He fucking-aye-right better be. 1976 C. R. Anderson Grunts 78 [refers to 1969]: You know fucking A well you can’t ask the man no dumbass question like that. 1978 L. K. Truscott Dress Gray 443: You could fuckin’-A say that again. 1981 W. T. Hathaway World of Hurt 209: You’re my fuckin’-A favorite ridge-runner. a1982 H. Berry Semper Fi, Mac 192: Fuckin’ A told or Fuckin’ A right were everyday expressions [in the Marine Corps during WWII]. 1985 R. Frede Nurses 237: I am fucking-A ripped! 1985 D. Bodey F.N.G. 4: Marines. Fuckin’-A filthy. 1998 R. B. Parker Trouble in Paradise 80: We’re just going to fucking-A find that out, aren’t we, my little chickadee? a1999 D. F. Wallace Signifying Nothing in Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (1999) 78: I know, for fucking-“A” sure, my father was not going to say anything to her about it.
fucking Able [FUCKING + former military communicat
ions alphabet Able ‘A’]
Military. = FUCKING-A.
1966 R. Newhafer No More Bugles in the Sky 176: That certainly is tough shit, Danang. You are fucking able right I violated air space.
fucking-A well adverb
= FUCKING WELL.
1976 H. Crews Feast of Snakes 83: He fucking-A-well had the words right.
fuckingly adverb
extremely; incredibly.
[ca1890 My Secret Life IX. xii.: The cunt slightly open and fuckingly aromatic, smelling like the cunt of a woman.] 1927 E. Hemingway in Selected Letters (1981) 261: Got a sheet to fill out from Who’s Who and my life has been so fuckingly complicated that I was only able to answer two of the questions. 1930 J. C. Powys in Diary (1987) 191: Had Devilish & fuckingly sharp discomfort in my ulcer. a1932 A. Nin in Henry & June (1986) 181: Henry loves me, but not fuckingly, not fuckingly. 1952 in G. Legman Limerick (1954) 47: The skater, Barbara Ann Scott/Is so fuckingly “winsome” a snot. 1952 M. Horwitz Letter (Aug. 9) in We Will not be Strangers: Korean War Letters (1997) 54: Fuckingly well done. 1971 P. Zindel And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little 10: That whole pack of academically defunct eternally matriculated and fuckingly overpaid nuts and what are they saying? 2002 N. Vida End of Marriage 215: I have this connection in New York, he gets the most fuckingly beautiful Stickley pieces.
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