Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a good deal, a large amount; usu. in phr. a sight more; usu. prefixed with darned, bloody, dashed etc.

1800		G. Colman Yngr Heir at Law III ii: There’s all Horace’s Operas, doctor,—and such a sight of French books!
1809		Horry & Weems Life of General F. Marion (1816) 124: They have got a tarnal nation sight of pistols!
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 158: Sight (a) [sic] a great quantity. ‘What a precious sight of old women!’ ‘You seldom see such a sight o’ pigeons.’.
1833		S. Smith Major Downing (1834) 41: Its a plaguy sight worse than being on a standing committee.
1834		D. Crockett Narrative of the Life of D.C. (1934) 18: My father told me, in a very angry manner, that he would whip me an eternal sight worse than the master.
1836–7		Dickens Pickwick Papers (1999) 136: The young ’ooman deserved scragging a precious sight more than he did.
1837		R.M. Bird Nick of the Woods III 165: I’m a sight more of a rascal than you ever dreamed on!
1843		T. Haliburton Sam Slick in England I 42: I no sooner showed him the half dollar, than it walked into his pocket, a plaguy sight quicker than it will walk out.
1848		Bartlett Dict. Americanisms 303: A sight of things, a great many. The same expressions are used in Yorkshire, England, where they also say, a ‘vast of folks,’ which is hardly more elegant than our Western phrase, ‘a heap of folks’.
1851		‘How Sally Hooter Got Snake-Bit’ in T.A. Burke Polly Peablossom’s Wedding 71: It was ’simmon time, an’ she’d bin eatin er powerful sight uv um.
1855		Cork Examiner 3 Dec. 4/4: Chaw me if liberty ain’t a long sight better off in the hands of that old possum Nicholas.
1856		N.O. Weekly Delta 23 Nov. in A.P. Hudson Humor of the Old Deep South (1936) n.p.: Thar’s a sight of trees about here, an’ cane-breaks.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor IV 223/2: Why Joe was good for a — sight more than she thought I was!
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 152/2: Avent I ben and tryed aul I cud to git t’ ‘kelter’ as wi ‘grafted’ fur, an’ spent a syght tryin’ fur ’t.
1870		East London Obs. 19 Mar. 6/6: In London where there’s such a sight of folks, there must be a sight of flats.
1877		Five Years’ Penal Servitude 223: I got sent to Portland. Yes, that’s better than Chatham a blooming sight.
1884		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn 23: This miserableness went on as much as six or seven minutes; but it seemed a sight longer.
1892		‘F. Anstey’ Voces Populi 269: All I can say is, I’d a precious sight rather —.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 21 Apr. 6/1: His horses are trying a hanged sight more often than some people’s.
1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 74: All the boys of those days thought it a deuced sight more blessed to give than to receive.
1900		Boy’s Own Paper 17 Nov. 100: He’d charged a jolly sight too much.
1900		Marvel XIV:364 Oct. 2: You’re a dashed sight too game, I’m thinking!
1909		Observer (N.Z.) 27 Nov. 51/3: His advent caused a dashed sight more sensation than that of the ram.
1912		E. Pugh City Of The World 202: My children are taught a long sight better and a long sight more in them [schools] – and all for nothing!
1913		Madison Jrnl (LA) 30 Aug. 3/1: Half the boys called her Josie [...] an’ some on ’em to her face; but none to her back, by a damsite!
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 206: My Uncle George is a festive old bird who has made a habit for years of doing himself a dashed sight too well.
1933		W.R. Burnett Dark Hazard (1934) 182: I remember back a sight further than you do, Charley.
1945		D. Bolster Roll On My Twelve 10: They might be a whole sight worse.
1950		C. Harris Three-Ha’Pence to the Angel 16: Sight more ’andy with beer taps than any other kind, these days.
1965		E. Bond Saved Scene viii: Yer know a sight bloody too much!
1979		G. Swarthout Skeletons 89: This loco amnesty idea has only made things a damn sight worse.
1996		Penguin Bk of More Aus. Jokes 54: She’s a bloody sight better.