Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a general intensifier, usu. negative, e.g. something cruel, something awful.

1785		Burns ‘Epistle to J. L*****K’ in Poetical Works (1871) 110: The tapetless, ramfeezl’d hizzie, / She’s saft at best an’ something lazy.
1792		New Cheats of London Exposed 10: He must come down something handsome.
1818		W. Perry London Guide 55: If I had chosen to be sweet upon him, I might have drawn him something handsome, for he was ready tip.
1837		‘Tear Duff Billy’ Ri-tum Ti-tum Songster 17: Fot vot I’ve got, / I’ll come down summat handsome.
1848		G.F. Ruxton Life in the Far West (1849) 12: The way we throw’d ’em was something handsome.
1868		H.L. Williams Black-Eyed Beauty 34: When a woman swears, it’s something horrible.
1880		Vancouver Indep. (WA) 8 July 3/3: The vigor with which the enraged female whacked the boy’s head was something wonderful.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Feb. 9/3: Half the bearded boys in Melbourne are dying for Nellie Stewart, we guess. They don’t tell their loves, but as they crowd the gangways of the stalls, they look it – something awful.
1899		‘Pot’ & ‘Swears’ Scarlet City 401: Swelp me, Bob! but this is something like!
1899		W.J. Kountz Billy Baxter’s Letters 39: The band cut loose something fierce. The leader tore out about $9.00 worth of hair, and acted generally as though he had bats in his belfry.
1906		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Green Door’ in Four Million (1915) 161: ‘To think of you going through all that,’ he exclaimed. ‘It was something fierce,’ said the girl, solemnly.
1908		N.Z. Truth 22 Feb. 6/2: The language was made use of in a loud tone of voice and was something awful.
1911		W.W. Jacobs ‘The Guardian Angel’ in Monkey’s Paw (1962) 260: I’ve got the rheumatics in my legs something cruel.
1916		‘Anzac’ On the Anzac Trail 128: We retired fighting and in that retirement our losses were something cruel.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 340: The colours were done something lovely.
1930		W.R. Burnett Iron Man 296: Boy, them bootleggers cut liquor something awful in New York.
1941		G. Kersh They Die with Their Boots Clean 2: I heard that fellow swear something terrible, blinding and bloodying like a bargee.
1942		Worker (Brisbane) 7 Sept.. 14/3: She dragged him downstairs something brutal.
1956		N. Algren Walk on the Wild Side 164: You must despise women something terrible.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 17: The trains bothered Mum something awful.
1978		P. Theroux Picture Palace 134: Because you’re pissing me off something wicked, that’s why.
1986		T. Winton That Eye, The Sky 93: We ate a lot of lentils [...] but they make you fart something awful.
1998		J. Hoskison Inside 86: He used to beat her up something rotten.
2003		Indep. Rev. 1 Oct. 5: My Chalfonts are playing up something rotten.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 104: This [i.e. a piece of good news] pleases me something rotten.

2. a euph. for damn adv., e.g. I’ll do as I something well please.

1854		G.J. Whyte-Melville General Bounce (1891) 145: Dinadam [...] says he ‘can’t stand that something vulgar woman.’.
1885		Daily News 16 Apr. in Ware (1909) 229/2: We cannot all go to learn English accent and style in Boston or New York, and must try to be intelligible without hoping to be accurate or elegant. We are told not to say ‘above his strength’, but ‘beyond his strength’. We shall do as we (something) please, to quote another Transatlantic authority.
1901		H. Lawson ‘His Brother’s Keeper’ in Roderick (1972) 525: I’ve got them locked up and I’ll something well keep them till Barnes is sober enough to pay me what he owes me.

3. exceedingly.

1915

Honk! 28 Jan. 2/2: Girls is scarce out here, and the boys is growlin summat.