Applied by way of execration to any person or thing strongly objected to: see confound, v. 2a.

slang. Used as an intensifier, as a (now usually mild) expletive. Cf. bloody, adj. 8a(a), damned, adj. 4.

Used hyperbolically or in a relative sense. U.S. regional. As an intensifier: = eternal, adj. 7. Now rare.

Confounded, damned. colloquial. Chiefly U.S.

U.S. As an intensifier, typically used self-consciously as a mild expletive. Cf. everlasting, adj. 2d, mother-loving, adj. 2.