Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) something or someone outstandingly good, stylish or pleasing of its kind.

1881		Daily L.A. Herald 13 Aug. 2/3: He calls a beautiful woman a ‘lalla,’ a ‘dandy,’ or a ‘corker,’ and an ugly one a ‘chromo’.
1896		Ade Artie (1963) 8: ‘The girls — wow!’ ‘Beauties, eh?’ ‘Lollypaloozers!’.
1897		Kansas City Jrnl (MO) 16 May 13/4: ‘What’d you have?’ ‘A lalla-pa-loosa [...] a Jack, and the deuce, trey, four and five of diamonds’ .
1901		World (N.Y.) 20 Oct. 3: Gee! here goes for a lalapoloosa.
1904		‘Hugh McHugh’ I’m from Missouri 89: We had our final parade with the fireworks finish, and it was a lallapalooza!
1904		Eve. World (NY) 16 Apr. 3/5: Ish a lollypaloozer but wash diff-hic-rence?`.
1908		Sporting Life 19 Sept. in Fleming Unforgettable Season (1981) 232: The proper pronunciation of the word ‘lallapaloosa.’.
1911		L. Pound ‘A Second Word-List From Nebraska’ in DN III:vii 545: lallapaloosa, n. Something fine or grand; a term of approbation. ‘You have a lallapaloosa of a hat.’.
1911		‘Sing Sing No. 57,700’ My View on Books in N.Y. Times Mag. 30 Apr. 5/6: Les Miserables [...] It’s a lalapalooza.
1912		R.W. Brown ‘Word-List From Western Indiana’ in DN III:viii 582: lolly-paloozer, n. Something very striking. ‘Isn’t John’s new buggy a lolly-palooza?’.
1914		Buffalo Enquirer (NY) 4 Apr. 10: Why is Austria Hungary? Because she got no Turkey. Ain’t that a lolly palooza?
1915		Tacoma Times (WA) 23 Mar. 5/8: The Fable of the Long Range Lover and the Lollypaloozer.
1920		S. Lewis Main Street (1921) 414: I mean the meanest kind of critter – meaner than the horned toad or the Texas lallapaluza!
1920		T. Thursday ‘Score Another One for Barnum’ in Argosy All-Story 11 Sept. 🌐 The next [letter] was a lalaplunko.
1922		Appleton Post-Crescent (WI) 8 May 11/1: Flapper Dictionary lalapazaza – A good sport.
1923		Wodehouse Leave it to Psmith (1993) 516: You want to put on your smoked glasses before you look at it. It’s a lalapaloosa.
1926		Wood & Goddard Dict. Amer. Sl. 29: lallypaloozer. A wow, knockout; also, a falsehood.
1931		P. Stevenson Gospel According to St Luke’s 189: I’ve got an idea that’s a lollapaloosa!
1885		Derbshire Times 26 Dec. 6/6: When he finally ‘turned out’ [...] his body was a mass of cruel blisters.
1937		J. Tully Bruiser 220: The boys [...] tell me this gal’s a lolapalooza.
1938		W. Winchell On Broadway 8 Aug. [synd. col.] Hedy LaMarr, the latest Hollywood lalapalooza.
1941		in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 217: A vermin named Hermann, / But his dink is a lollapalooza.
1944		W. Blair Tall Tale America 64: They had a shooting match that was a lolapaloosa.
1959		‘Ed McBain’ Killer’s Wedge (1981) 42: Oh, we’ve got a lallapaluza this time.
1971		L. Bangs in Psychotic Reactions (1988) 58: She grew up to be a wollapalooza of a drugstore fashion model.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 539: There’s Sal Mineo — he’s hovering — dig that swish lollapalooza.
2005		N.Y. Times 28 Oct. E 29/2: A lollapalooza of delectable cheap thrills.

2. a devastating punch.

1926

N. Fleischer in Ring Nov. 10: A lallapalooza—A crashing punch.

3. an extreme example.

1945

L. Hoban ‘Time to Kill’ Crack Detective Jan. 🌐 He was corn-cockeyed, a boozed-bosky, a lush-lalapalooza.