Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Irish) terrible; occas. as adv.

1846		D. Jerrold Mrs. Caudle’s Curtain Lectures 12: It’s brutal, Mr. Caudle. It’s ve-ve-ve-ry bru-tal.
1858		F.W. Farrar Eric I 24: You brutal cowardly bully.
1875		‘Ouida’ Signa I 140: ‘A bad fellow!’ said Momo. [...] ‘Brutal bad!’ echoed Papuccio.
1897		O. Wister Lin McLean 237: Lin, don’t talk that brutal to me.
1910		O. Johnson Varmint 29: Assaulting a teacher – how broo-tal.
1924		H.L. Wilson Professor How Could You! 247: It certainly does make a brutal overhead for a snare like this, poppa.
1938		W. Smitter F.O.B. Detroit 36: You’re brutal!
c.1940–5		in ‘Myles na gCopaleen’ Best of Myles (1968) 61: Begob the suspense was brutal. BRUTAL.
1942		G. Casey It’s Harder for Girls 113: It’s brutal weather.
1942		Worker (Brisbane) 7 Sept.. 14/3: She dragged him downstairs something brutal.
1950		S. Murphy Stone Mad (1966) 185: Oh, my God, there’ll be brutal scenes in a minnit. Women an’ children falling on both sides!
1960		J. Iggulden Storms of Summer 30: What a brutal looking fellow!
1979		H. Leonard A Life (1981) Act I: Holy Thursdays is brutal [...] All the picture houses shut and no hops. Tomorrow’s worse: it’s Good Friday.
1982		(con. 1930s–50s) E. Mac Thomáis Janey Mack, Me Shirt is Black 129: I’ll never forget the brutal week I had on my half dollar.
1990		R. Doyle Snapper 122: He tried the tea. It was brutal.
1996		R. Doyle Woman Who Walked Into Doors 118: I think it’s stupid, said Charlo. – We like it, said Daddy. It’s a kid’s programme, said Charlo. – We like it. – It’s brutal.
2004		T. Winton ‘Boner McPharlin’s Moll’ in Turning (2005) 262: The gossip at school was brutal.
2013		J. Keogh 25 Mar. [email] The weather here in Ireland at the minute is brutal. So it's ALL we're talking about! ‘It's Baltic’ ‘Jaysus, I’m freeeeezin’. ‘Am foundered’.

2. (orig. US) very good, first-rate [on bad = good model].

1927		H.C. Witwer Classics in Sl. 41: I was just gettin’ him to where he can’t stomp a brutal step!
1965		W. King ‘The Game’ in King Black Short Story Anthol. (1972) 309: This doll is a champ on the sheets! She is brutal; death on sheets, man!
1987		Eble Campus Sl. Oct.
1999		(con. 1979–80) A. Wheatle Brixton Rock (2004) 29: Easing it [i.e. dinner] down with a generous helping of some brutal brew.
2011		S. Kelman Pigeon English 5: I love going in the lift, it’s brutal.

3. (orig. US campus) hard, difficult, horrible, a general negative.

1968		K. Brasselle Cannibals 356: He did a column on Morris that was brutal.
1973		D. Ponicsan Cinderella Liberty 140: Dougie, you’re brutal.
1989		J. Doyle College Sl. Dict. 🌐 brutal [UCSB] difficult as in a test or assignment.
1995		B. James Detective is Dead (1996) 25: Perhaps even that dreaming spiel king, Gerry Reid, could turn brutal.
2012		Guardian News On line 21 Sept. 🌐 I’m brutal with killing pigeons. If pigeons dinnae perform for you, you’ve got to kill them.