Green’s Dictionary of Slang

shitload n.

a great many, a large amount; usu. as a shitload of.

1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 195: Shitload [...] A great deal of something.
[1963		(con. 1919) E. Asinof Eight Men Out 256: Burns could make a dozen mistakes, find himself in a manure pile of troubles, yet now he came up clean].
1971		T. Whitmore Memphis-Nam-Sweden 158: They sure managed to squeeze a shitload of tourist mileage out of us.
1980		E. Leonard City Primeval 35: ‘An Albanian is a little fella with black hair and a whole shitpile of money he keeps down in his basement’.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 33: We got a whole shitload of Jane Bakers here.
1983		G. Tate ‘Electric Miles’ in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 73: There’s a crapload of Miles Davis anecdotes.
1986		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 9: shitloads – a great amount: You have to do shitloads of reading for Poli 41.
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 214: They bought a shitload of beer.
1997		T. Fontana ‘Capital P’ Oz ser. 1 ep. 4 [TV script] Life in prison without parole is a shitload worse than death. Death is parole.
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 40: Marcus was under a shitload of pressure these days.
2000		P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 109: She’s lost basically shitloads of weight.
2004		L. Redhead Peepshow [ebook] She’s into B&D now [...] and making a shitload.
2006		J. Ridley What Fire Cannot Burn 140: That’s a shit load o’ guilt to be carting around.
2007		Skins ser.1 ep.1 [TV script] I took a shit load of pills.
2011		S. Kelman Pigeon English 89: A shitload of fireworks.
2015		email to davidsimon.com 9 May 🌐 And let me tell you, for a city that’s 99 percent black and Puerto Rican, there are a shit load of white boys in there [i.e. prison], a disproportionate amount.
2016		Times 20 Aug. 35/3: Colorado won’t be the only place that’s growing a crapload of it [i.e. marijuana].
2018		J.-P. Jordan Joys of War 6: . An Irishman, a shitload of beer, a pair of skis and some steep hills were an almighty combination .
2019		C. Hammer Silver [ebook] ‘You do a lot of criminal law?’ ‘Shitloads. I’m up before the magistrate most weeks’.
2020		C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 125: Fifty thousand dollars was still a shit-pile of money.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 38: You [...] hire a shitload of COs.

In phrases

by the shitload (adv.)

in large amounts.

1987		Franco & Hammer Hoffa’s Man 137: Trouble was coming down by the shitload.
1998		V. O’Reilly Devil’s Footprint 27: The military give them out by the shitload.
2007		J.L. Burke Tin Roof Blowdown 138: Washington insiders are down here by the shitload.

In compounds

six shitloads (n.)

(UK black) a very substantial amount.

2018-20		T. Thorne (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Six shitloads - a large amount/quantity.