billyoh

9.9

A very large amount or very strong degree in informal British speech

noun
/ˈbɪl.i.əʊ/

Archaic

: muchísimo

He has a lot of money, like billyoh!

Examples

When the storm hit, it rained billyoh and flooded the whole street.
He ran like billyoh to catch the last train home.
That old engine smokes billyoh when you start it up in the morning.
This project will take time, billyoh effort!
He ran like billyoh to catch the last train home.
It rained billyoh during the storm and flooded the entire area.
This recipe requires billyoh sugar for the cake.

Synonyms

all get out

vsbillyoh

Informal

1 9.9

A very large amount or degree that people use to show emphasis

is the British informal idiom used chiefly in a fixed simile

bigly

vsbillyoh

Informal

1 9.6

Large in size and often used in a joking way

means an extreme, informal British sense rather than merely large or humorous

billyo

vsbillyoh

Archaic

9.9

Follows the word like to show that something happens a lot or very strongly

is the British informal variant with a different spelling and form

billy-ho

vsbillyoh

Archaic

9.9

A very large amount or degree

is the unhyphenated colloquial form used in the same British expressions

How Much

billyoh

Archaic

9.9

quite

∞ 1.0

somewhat

816 2.0

a little

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

billyoh singular

billyohs plural

Etymology

Billyoh is a British informal word that means 'a lot' or 'to a great degree'. One helpful idea is that it began as the shout billy-o, like calling someone's name in surprise, so think of a loud cry that turned into a way to say 'very' or 'extremely', which explains uses like 'rained billyoh' for very heavy rain.