Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a person of exasperating habits or manners.

1881		Manchester Courier 9 Apr. 3/1: I’m an angel from Paradise, and a holy terror when I flop my wings.
1883		G.W. Peck Peck’s Bad Boy and His Pa (1887) 159: He used to be a holy terror with the boxing gloves when he was a boy.
1887		Lantern (N.O.) 5 Feb. 3: When red-headed Mag was boozin’, she wus er holy terror.
1891		Globe (London) 14 Oct. 3/1: I us’to be a holy terror for betting on horse races.
1900		H. Lawson ‘Joe Wilson’s Courtship’ in Roderick (1972) 542: I told her you were a holy terror amongst the girls.
1901		B. Pain De Omnibus 98: But ain’t ’e a ’oly ’orrer when yer know ’im!
1908		Sun (NY) 13 Sept. 5/1: This here Rev. Nicodemus Hambuster [...] is a holy terror.
1914		‘Ian Hay’ Lighter Side of School Life 10: He was a holy terror — and the greatest man that ever lived.
1916		‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin 378: ’E’s a ’oly ’orror for scrappin’.
1924		‘Sapper’ Third Round 574: He’s a holy terror — that german. Dirty old beast, with egg all over his coat, waving his arms at me.
1927		Derby Dly Teleg. 1 July 4/6: Hackney woman of her lodger: She [...] is a holy horror.
1936		W. Holtby South Riding (1988) 245: She was a holy terror.
1947		N. Streatfeild Grass in Piccadilly 33: That queen A.T. of yours must have been a holy terror.
1953		W.P. McGivern Big Heat 19: She’s angelic all day, but at night she’s a holy terror.
1975		W. Trevor Angels at the Ritz 187: Poppy Edwards, you’re a holy terror!
1982		G.V. Higgins Patriot Game (1985) 98: He may be a holy terror and he may drive you nuts, but by God, you have to admit that old Digger’s never dull.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 36: Shit! You don’t look like a holy terror to me. You’re too light in the butt to be that tough.

2. a terrible place or event.

1881		Caldwell Post 28 July in Miller & Snell Why the West was Wild 15: The City Marshal [...] taking two soiled doves in and pulling the Dive in the flat for being a disorderly house. The aforesaid Dive is a holy terror.
1887		Sth Wales Echo 14 May 4/5: I made a big mistake coming i this ship, for she proved to be a holy terror from the day we left.
1902		Manchester Courier 25 Oct. 10/4: To him [...] work or industrial effort of any kind is, as we say in Ireland, ‘a holy terror’.
1918		Dagger [London] Dec. I 4/1: I was at the battle of Pinky Poo, an’ it was a holy terror.
1930		Eve. Teleg. 7 Aug. 7/7: When they get down to tin tacks, a farthing on the rates is a holy horror!
1940		Gloucester Echo 13 Jan. 4/1: It’s a holy terror [...] rats can be heard squeaking outside the doors.
1957		(con. 1943) A. Myrer Big War 225: I think it’s going to be a holy terror.
2011		Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI) 18 Nov. C2/1: The graphic novel was originally titled ‘Holy Terror, Batman’.