Like blazes, that is, furiously.--Moor's Suffolk Words.
As they cut away, the company
Stil kep upon the glare;
An' when comin' in, the hosses ded
Along like blazes tear.
Poem in Essex Dialect, p. 21.
This expression is common in low language with us. At the South it seems to be used as a euphemism for devil, etc.
I've been serving my country like a patriot, goin' to town-meetings, hurraing my daylights out, and getting as blue as blazes.--J. C. Neal.
All the hair was off his head, and his face was as black as the very old blazes.--Chron. of Pineville, p. 49.