tarnation

/tɑɹˈneɪʃən/

Etymology

From darnation, influenced by tarnal (from eternal); see darn.

adj

  1. Bothersome; devilish.“Now you go 'long back to the house, Marm Winthrop, and if riding 'longside of a popish priest don't speerit me into the bottomless pit, I'll be blamed if I don't go some day into his church and find out what all that tarnation lingo means.”
  2. Generic intensifier.“Some time in the month o' August, I think it wur, I found myself in London wi'out a tarnation cent.”

adv

  1. Very; extremely.“He was so tarnation black you couldn't see him except in the middle of the day.”

intj

  1. Used to express anger, irritation, disappointment, annoyance, contempt, etc.“"Tarnation! You all right?" "Hell, no, I ain't all right!"”

noun

  1. The act or process of damnation or reprobation; hell.“What in tarnation is going on?”
  2. Someone or something that causes trouble; troublemaker.“I would say more, but RADLEY's come up to tell me I must go and meet that tarnation BANCROFT.”