Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a general intensifier; also as adv.

1748		Richardson Clarissa VII 4: Thou art a shocking fellow, and ever wert.
1761		Nancy Dawson’s Jests 13: I mean that shocking monster with her; oh! sir, answer he, that’s my wife.
1818		‘A. Burton’ Adventures of Johnny Newcome III 163: Calliope this morning told Me, that she’d got a shocking cold.
1835		Morn. Post (London) 30 Jan. 4/3: She said that Mr Spivey had ‘insulted her in the most shockingest manner’’.
1838		Hereford Times 21 July 4/5: He ogles me so — ’tis so shocking ill-bred.
1843		Cork Examiner 15 Mar. 4/5: [This] will induce him to do all he can to cure his shocking bad knee.
1848		Era (London) 17 Sept. 5/2: The racin [was] shockin bad.
1864		G.A. Sala Quite Alone I 34: Griffin is a shocking night-crow.
1883		J. Greenwood Tag, Rag & Co. 82: You would if you had such a shocking black eye as I’ve got to see it with.
1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 9 Aug. 14/2: Shocking thing this bank fraud in which our friend Jack is implicated. Poor devil, wonder what made him clear out so quick?
1907		Lone Hand May 6: ‘Shocking late hours, pater [...] Pudsey take care of you, eh?’.
1919		‘Bartimeus’ ‘Narrative of Commander W.D. Hornby’ in Awfully Big Adventure 121: We threaded our way through the stuffy-smelling corridors of the Admiralty [...] ‘Phew! Shockin’ frowst!’.
1922		A. Christie Secret Adversary (1955) 7: You always were a shocking liar.
1946		S. Jackson Indiscreet Guide to Soho 66: They are shocking liars.
1947		N. Streatfeild Grass in Piccadilly 250: Shockin’ fellow, that husband.
1989		H. Leonard Out After Dark 4: God help me, I’m in shocking danger!