the hell

English

the hell (not comparable)

(mildly vulgar) Used to indicate emphatic rejection of an assertion.
A: I can run faster than a horse.

B: The hell you can!
(mildly vulgar) Expletive used for emphasis after an interrogative term or relative pronoun.
- 2009 February 19, Gareth Lewis, Southern Daily Echo:
  "Whoever the hell is running the place now has made a terrible mess of it," he said... "Not in the sense that it looks different, or that it isn't pretty much permanently full. It's just that the food as gone utterly down the khazi."
What the hell was that?

expletive used for emphasis after an interrogative term

(mildly vulgar) Ellipsis of what the hell: an exclamation indicating surprise or dismay.
- 2013, Jonathan Latimer, The Lady in the Morgue, ISBN 9781471910715, (Google books online):
  “She said she had a date later!”
  
  “The hell!” exclaimed Crane.

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