Green’s Dictionary of Slang

see under card n.²

see under cop n.²

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

1818		Newbern Sentinel (SC) 21 Nov. 3/4: But like a ‘sure enough’ Proteus, thou canst put on the ‘grave and reverend’.
1840		Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) 14 June 2/3: Major Bluster [...] was a ‘sure enough’ major, who had fought [...] in the last war.
1846		D. Corcoran Pickings from N.O. Picayune 188: They [...] were ‘sure enough’ love-letters, [...] full of rhapsody and romance.
1876		‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer 43: True, the knife would not cut anything, but it was a ‘sure-enough’ Barlow.
1899		Ade Fables in Sl. (1902) 160: The sure-enough Bohemian was a Scathing Critic.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 104: He’s a sure enough Rube.
1911		S. Ford Torchy 73: Maybe she’s a sure enough swell whose folks had gone broke.
1922		S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 86: A real sure-enough highbrow affair.
1931		O. Strange Law O’ The Lariat 107: The beeyutiful heroine refuses the villain, who was a shore-enough dirty dog.
1937		E. Anderson Thieves Like Us (1999) 57: We ought to have a sure-enough set-up here.
1947		S. Lewis Kingsblood Royal (2001) 39: How would you like it if I were a sure-enough king?
1950		A.B. Guthrie Way West 7: You can sleep dainty in a sure-enough bed.
1981		M. Baker Nam (1982) 165: He was a rich kid, sure-enough rich.
2008		‘Grandmaster Flash’ Adventures 223: The great love of my life was Sweet Pea, Paulette Jeffrey [...] my sure-enough soul mate.

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

1902		‘Hugh McHugh’ Back to the Woods 16: The next day I hit the track with three sure-fires and a couple of perhapses.
1912		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.
1915		S. Ford Torchy, Private Sec. 68: You don’t mean that a real sure-fire like you could be shunted that way?
1923		H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 76: Our combination was a sure-fire gloom-chaser and that’s a fact!
1934		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.
1941		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.
1953		J. Thompson Savage Night (1991) 50: That was what made him an almost sure-fire bet.
1962		H.S. Thompson letter 19 Oct. in Proud Highway (1997) 357: This last is guaranteed to produce surefire quotes.
1974		(con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 190: A sure-fire way of vomiting was thinking about raspberry ice-cream coated with chocolate.
1982		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.
1999		Observer 25 July 28: The only sure-fire way to ensure protection of animals is to stop eating them.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 17: Trainer prints in the gardens equal surefire evidence.

(US) definitely.

1925		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.
1929		E. Caldwell Bastard (1963) 40: When they do start in they sure God stuff their guts.

see sure thing n.

see sho’ ’nuff adv.

see under pop n.¹

(US) successful, influential.

[1842		Wkly Standard (Raleigh, NC) 23 Nov. n.p.: An old Indian, named Sure Shot].
1913		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 80: Slippery Stella the sure shot sleuth.
1914		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.
1926		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.
1940		Baltimore Sun (MD) 3 Nov. 3/1: They claimed fifty-two sewats ‘sure shots’ ansd twenty-sic more in the ‘outside chance’ category.
1967		E. Shepard Doom Pussy 57: He couldn’t be sure he was Prince Sure Shot of the Mighty Fornicators.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 190: The first Nigger pimps and sure-shot gamblers was the only Nigger big shots in the country.
1982		Afrika Bambaataa ‘Planet Rock’ 🎵 ‘Planet Rock’ / It’s the sure shot.

see separate entries.

see separate entries.

(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’.

1982		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!).
1988		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.
2002		‘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.

see separate entry.

see sure as hell under sure as... phr.

see sure thing! excl.

see separate entry.