Definition of "tarnal" [tarnal]

• Chiefly New England & Upper Southern U.S. Damned. See Regional Note at tarnation. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "'Twas 'cause it took him so 'tarnal long to dig a basket, that the pertaters grew ahead of him in the row -- that's right!"
• ""Boys, I'm drinking, and I don't care, fur my spunk's up, and I'd just's soon bet her all the first bet; them tarnal fellers guzzled me out of $1,000 in Cincinnater, and I wants ter get even.""
• ""You wouldn't feel it so, if ye hadn't been too 'tarnal lazy to change yer seat," sniffed his wife."