What does Holy Smoke mean?

Answer 1

It means that you are seeing or experiencing something flabbergasting!

Answer 2

The expression, as a exclamation, dates from the latter part of the nineteenth century. The first reference in the Oxford English Dictionary is in a book by Rudyard Kipling and his American agent Charles Balestier, The Naulahka, published in 1892. I’ve found several other references at about the same period, all from American works, so it does indeed seem to be of American origin.

I have come across a couple of earlier references, one in a poem by Jean Ingelow from the 1860s:

She never loved me since I went with thee
To sacrifice among the hills; she smelt
The holy smoke, and could no more divine
Till the new moon. and the OED has this from Sir John Beaumont, dated about 1627: “Who lift to God for us the holy smoke / Of fervent prayers”. The idea here is the old one of a burnt sacrifice or incense being a metaphor for the carrying of one’s prayers up to heaven. There are several such references in the Bible, including the Book of Revelation: “And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand”. But I can’t trace any continuity of usage between the two examples quoted above, nor to the later exclamation. What is certain is that it has nothing to do with the puffs of smoke that appear during the election of a new Pope.

It seems more likely that holy smoke was invented anew as a mock-religious exclamation and mild oath on the model of the older holy Moses (from the 1850s), and holy terror and Holy Joe (both from the 1880s). In turn these probably served as the model for others of similar type that came later, such as holy cow from the early 1940s.

Answer 3

I don't think it means much of anything. It's just an expression. It may refer to the Catholic tradition of electing a new pope. The vatican will burn either black smoke to say that they have not picked a new pope or white smoke to say that they have picked a new pope. Personally, My priest always yells "Holy Smoke" at me when he sees me smoking outside before or after church

Answer 4

It is holy sh...moke.
It has no meaning except being a eufemisme for a rude expression.

Answer 5

It is a way of not using a curse word as an expletive. It is also used in a time of crisis and fear. The term is old and I thought it had fallen out of the vernacular as a colloquialism.

Answer 6

When a church catches fire it is considered Holy Smoke.

Answer 7

Euphimism.

Answer 8

it's just a slang saying.
for like oh man !!!!!!!!
means like: wow
means like: oh my gosh.

just a slang word.

has nothing to do with religion. it's just the word :holy brought into it.

Answer 9

It is the stuff that God blows in the eyes of believers so that they can blindly follow him better.

Answer 10

Ganja smoke that has been blessed.