Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sure adj.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

sure-enough (adj.) [attrib. use of SE phr. sure enough, definitely, yes indeed]

(US) definite, absolute, certain, genuine; also as adv., definitely, certainly.

Newbern Sentinel (SC) 21 Nov. 3/4: But like a ‘sure enough’ Proteus, thou canst put on the ‘grave and reverend’.
[US]Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) 14 June 2/3: Major Bluster [...] was a ‘sure enough’ major, who had fought [...] in the last war.
[US]D. Corcoran Pickings from N.O. Picayune 188: They [...] were ‘sure enough’ love-letters, [...] full of rhapsody and romance.
[US]‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer 43: True, the knife would not cut anything, but it was a ‘sure-enough’ Barlow.
[US]Ade Fables in Sl. (1902) 160: The sure-enough Bohemian was a Scathing Critic.
[US]H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 104: He’s a sure enough Rube.
[US]S. Ford Torchy 73: Maybe she’s a sure enough swell whose folks had gone broke.
[US]S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 86: A real sure-enough highbrow affair.
[US]O. Strange Law O’ The Lariat 107: The beeyutiful heroine refuses the villain, who was a shore-enough dirty dog.
[US]E. Anderson Thieves Like Us (1999) 57: We ought to have a sure-enough set-up here.
[US]S. Lewis Kingsblood Royal (2001) 39: How would you like it if I were a sure-enough king?
[UK]A.B. Guthrie Way West 7: You can sleep dainty in a sure-enough bed.
[US]M. Baker Nam (1982) 165: He was a rich kid, sure-enough rich.
[US]‘Grandmaster Flash’ Adventures 223: The great love of my life was Sweet Pea, Paulette Jeffrey [...] my sure-enough soul mate.
sure-fire (adj.) [the image of an efficient firearm]

(orig. US) certain, definite, unassailable; thus as n., an unassailable person or thing.

[US]‘Hugh McHugh’ Back to the Woods 16: The next day I hit the track with three sure-fires and a couple of perhapses.
[US]Ade Knocking the Neighbors 98: He was keyed to Concert Pitch and the Audience was Piped and all the old sure-fire Bokum of a Sentimental Nature simply Killed them.
[US]S. Ford Torchy, Private Sec. 68: You don’t mean that a real sure-fire like you could be shunted that way?
[US]H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 76: Our combination was a sure-fire gloom-chaser and that’s a fact!
[US]E. Hemingway letter 16 Nov. in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 410: Somehow I don’t like to write on Gertrude even though it is a sure fire piece.
[US]G. Marx letter in Groucho Letters (1967) 41: I can clean up a fortune in the market if only I follow their sure-fire tips.
[US]J. Thompson Savage Night (1991) 50: That was what made him an almost sure-fire bet.
[US]H.S. Thompson letter 19 Oct. in Proud Highway (1997) 357: This last is guaranteed to produce surefire quotes.
[US](con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 190: A sure-fire way of vomiting was thinking about raspberry ice-cream coated with chocolate.
[US]G.V. Higgins Patriot Game (1985) 85: Ticker’s so dumb you could tell him you could get by on eating nothing but wood, and he would think you gave him a surefire way to save more money.
[UK]Observer 25 July 28: The only sure-fire way to ensure protection of animals is to stop eating them.
[UK]N. Barlay Hooky Gear 17: Trainer prints in the gardens equal surefire evidence.
sure-God (adv.)

(US) definitely.

[US]D. Hammett ‘Corkscrew’ Story Omnibus (1966) 220: If you birds don’t start piling your guns on the bar right away [...] I’ll sure-God splash you.
[US]E. Caldwell Bastard (1963) 40: When they do start in they sure God stuff their guts.
sure-shot (adj.) [var. on sure-fire ]

(US) successful, influential.

[[US]Wkly Standard (Raleigh, NC) 23 Nov. n.p.: An old Indian, named Sure Shot].
[US]T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 80: Slippery Stella the sure shot sleuth.
[US]Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 33: If you get a rumble, send for Jones, the mouthpiece; he’s a sure-shot fixer and can square anything short of murder.
[US]Frement Trib. (NE) 17 Nov. 7/3: [advert] $1.00 the Dozen Husking Mittens [...] — a sure shot — Man’s Brown Jersey Gloves fleece lined [...] A sure shot — 15c.
[US]Baltimore Sun (MD) 3 Nov. 3/1: They claimed fifty-two sewats ‘sure shots’ ansd twenty-sic more in the ‘outside chance’ category.
[US]E. Shepard Doom Pussy 57: He couldn’t be sure he was Prince Sure Shot of the Mighty Fornicators.
[US]‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 190: The first Nigger pimps and sure-shot gamblers was the only Nigger big shots in the country.
[US]Afrika Bambaataa ‘Planet Rock’ 🎵 ‘Planet Rock’ / It’s the sure shot.
sure thing

see separate entries.

In phrases

for sure

see separate entries.

I am sure

(US teen) a phr. meaning ‘I am sure that you are wrong/that I don’t want to do what you suggest’ etc; intensified as I am so sure, a phr. used at the end of a sentence to imply either ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I am sure of that’.

[US]Dly Record (Morristown, NJ) 28 Oct. 25/2: It was like, omigod I don’t believe this [...] The room was clean in 24 hours. I mean, no biggie. (Well, clean by her standards, you know? Like I am so sure!).
[US]Signal (Santa Clarita, CA) 8 Jan. 34/2: I mean like I am so sure! I am so sure and like Madonna does it too.
‘Valley Girls’ on Paranoiafanzine 🌐 I mean, guys, like, always want to do it. Like, I went out with this dude Scott, and he like, wanted to do it in the car. Gross me out! Like, it was a Fiat! I mean, I am so sure. Ok, maybe in a Trans Am, but only if the dude is a total babe.
sure as…

see separate entry.

In exclamations

sure thing!

see separate entry.