"sam hill" - what does it mean?

Answer 1

It's a euphemism for "damn hell" originating in the late 19th or early 20th centuries, when many such euphemisms became popular, such as

Gee whiz
Gosh darn
Crimeny
Jeez
Dash it all
Holy cow
Holy moley
Cripes
...and many, many, many more.

Answer 2

There is a story sometimes told (for example in Edwin Mitchell’s Encyclopedia of American Politics in 1946) that one Colonel Samuel Hill of Guilford, Connecticut, would often run for political office at some point in the early nineteenth century but always without success. Hence, “to run like Sam Hill” or “go like Sam Hill”. The problem is that nobody has found any trace of this monumentally unsuccessful candidate.

On the other hand, an article in the New England Magazine in December 1889 entitled Two Centuries and a Half in Guilford Connecticut mentioned that, “Between 1727 and 1752 Mr. Sam. Hill represented Guilford in forty-three out of forty-nine sessions of the Legislature, and when he was gathered to his fathers, his son Nathaniel reigned in his stead” and a footnote queried whether this might be the source of the “popular Connecticut adjuration to ‘Give ‘em Sam Hill’?” So the tale has long legs.

The expression has been known since the late 1830s. Despite the story, it seems to be no more than a personalised euphemism for “hell”.


As far as the officials at Maryhill know, the phrase predates "our" Sam Hill and refers to a farmer from one of the New England states who ran for public office--but no one knew who he was or from where he came!

Answer 3

uhh.. well the only way i've ever heard that used is "what the sam hill?", which is a replacement for "what the hell?" that's the only thing i can think of...

Answer 4

Just a personalized euphemism for "HELL".