| 释义 |
▪ I. hell, n.|hɛl|
Forms: 1–7 hel, 1– hell, 2–6 helle.
[OE. hęl(l, obl. cases hęlle, str. fem. = OFris. helle, hille, OS. hellja, hella, MDu. helle, Du. hel), OHG. hella (MHG. helle, mod.G. hölle), ON. hel, gen. heljar, Goth. halja:—OTeut. *haljâ str. fem., lit. ‘the coverer up or hider’, f. hel-, hal-, hul- to hide, conceal, hele. In ON. also the proper name of the goddess of the infernal regions, ‘the ogress Hel, the Proserpine of Scandinavian mythology’ (Vigfusson).]
1. The abode of the dead; the place of departed spirits; the infernal regions or ‘lower world’ regarded as a place of existence after death; the grave; Hades.
a. In Jewish and Christian use.
In the Bible of 1611, translating Heb. shĕōl (31 times), which is also rendered the grave (31 times), the pit (3 times); in N. T. rendering Gr. ᾅδης Hades (10 times), as well as γέεννα gehenna (12 times); once (2 Pet. ii. 4) ‘cast downe to hel’ represents ταρταρώσας pa. pple., ‘put in Tartarus.’ In the Revised Version, in O. T., hell has been retained in the prophetical books, with Sheol in the margin; elsewhere Sheol is substituted in the text, with grave in the margin (exc. in Deut. xxxii. 22, Ps. lv. 15, lxxxvi. 13, where pit is retained in the text, with Sheol in the margin); in N. T., Hades has everywhere been put for Gr. ᾅδης, and hell reserved for γέεννα.
c825Vesp. Psalter liv. 16 [lv. 15] Cyme deað ofer hie and astiᵹen hie in helle lifᵹende. c1000ælfric Gen. xxxvii. 35 Ic fare to minum sunu to helle. a1340Hampole Psalter xv. 10 Þou sall noght leue my saule in hell. 1382Wyclif Gen. xlii. 38 Ȝe shulen lede doun myn hoore heeris with sorwe to helle. 1502Ord. Crysten Men i. vii. (W. de W. 1506) 68 For before that he styed up in to the heuyns he dyscended in to the helles. 1529More Suppl. Soulys Wks. 320/2 Descendit ad inferna: that is to say he discended down beneth into the lowe places. In stede of which low places y⊇ english toung hath euer vsed thys word hel. 1535Coverdale Job xiv. 13 O that thou woldest kepe me, and hyde me in the hell, vntill thy wrath were stilled. ― Acts ii. 31 His soule was not left in hell [1881 R. V. Hades]. 1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. iii. Ad §16. 170 Our Lord descended into hell..that is into the state of separation and common receptacle of spirits. a1748Watts Improv. Mind ii. v. §2, I will explain the word hell to signify the state of the dead, or the separate state of souls..and..that the soul of Christ existed three days in the state of separation from his body, or was in the invisible world. a1848R. W. Hamilton Rew. & Punishm. iii. (1853) 113 The real conception of hell, is that which is unseen, the invisible state.
b. In Greek and Latin mythology.
c1384Chaucer H. Fame i. 441 Cybile And Eneas..To helle went for to see His ffader Anchyses. a1529Skelton P. Sparowe 1337 By the feryman of hell, Caron with his beerd hore. 1708Pope Ode St. Cecilia 83 He sung, and hell consented To hear the Poet's prayer. a1822Shelley Orpheus 67 Returning from drear Hell.
c. In Scandinavian mythology.
1770Percy tr. Mallet's North. Antiq. II. 151 The Gods..dispatched messengers throughout the world begging of every thing to weep, in order to deliver Balder from Hell. 1865Max Müller Chips (1880) II. xxv. 287 To Northern nations Hell was a cold place, a dreary region of snow and frost.
2. The infernal regions regarded as a place of torment; the abode of devils and condemned spirits; the place or state of punishment of the wicked after death.
In N. T. rendering γέεννα gehenna: see note to 1.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xv, Swa byrnende swa þæt fyr on þære helle, seo is on þam munte ðe ætne hatte. c1020Rule St. Benet (Logeman) 36 Na mid eᵹe helle ac mid cristes lufan. c1175Lamb. Hom. 61 From hwonne þe engles a-dun fellen in to þe þosternesse hellen. a1225Ancr. R. 150 Þenne nis hit to nout so god ase to þe fure of helle. 1297R. Glouc. (1724) 506 Thouȝtes he adde inowe, Leste the deuelen of helle al quic to helle him drowe. a1300Cursor M. 478 Lucifer..þat formast fell, thoru his ouergart in to hell. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) viii. 29 Þe entreez and þe ȝates of hell. 1522Skelton Why not to Court 590 As ferce and as cruell As the fynd of hell. 1667Milton P.L. x. 230 Within the Gates of Hell sate Sin and Death. 1731Pope Ep. Burlington 148 Who never mentions Hell to ears polite. 1827Pollok Course T. v, Leagues, though holy termed, first made In Hell. 1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) II. 16 Not fully God's is he who cannot live, Even in hell, and find in hell no hell.
3. a. Represented as a living being: chiefly as a poetical personification.
c1000Nicodemus xxvi, Seo hell þa swiþe grymme and swyðe eᵹeslice andswarode. a1300Cursor M. 18025 Helle ȝaf to satan vnswere. 1382Wyclif Isa. v. 14 Therfore helle spredde abrod his soule, and openede his [16th c. vers. her] mouth with oute any terme.
b. The powers of inhabitants of hell; the wicked spirits; also, the kingdom or power of hell.
1297R. Glouc. (1724) 322 Heuene & helle & ech þyng mot nede hys heste do. 1559Mirr. Mag., Clifford x, Hel haleth tirauntes downe to death amayne. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. viii. 63 In despight of the diuels and hell, haue through the verie middest of you. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 867 Hell heard th' unsufferable noise, Hell saw Heav'n ruining from Heav'n and would have fled Affrighted. 1845S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. III. 193 He had fought against Satan and hell.
c. A hellful, an infernal company, a devilish assembly.
1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 227 Some tormenting Dreame Affrights thee with a Hell of ougly Deuills. 1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. ii. Imposture 71 'Tis that old Python which..doth fire A hell of Furies in his fell desire. 1652Bp. Hall Myst. Godl. §13 There is now a hell of the spirits of error broken loose into the world.
4. Something regarded as resembling hell:
a. A place or state of wickedness, suffering, or misery. (In quot. 1586 applied to a person.)
c1374Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 166 The helle Which suffereth faire Anelyda. a1420Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1034, I am right siker it hathe ben an helle, You for to herken me thus jangle and clappe. 1555J. Philpot in Foxe A. & M. (1631) III. xi. 541/2 Afterward [he] felt such a hell in his conscience, that hee could scarce refraine from destroying himselfe. 1586A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 42 He was called the hell of the world, the plague of the common-weale. 1597Shakes. Lover's Compl. 288 What a hell of witchcraft lies In the small orb of one particular tear! c1600― Sonn. cxx, You've pass'd a hell of time. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 78 In the lowest deep a lower deep Still threatning to devour me opens wide, To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heav'n. 1719Young Busiris i. i, I fear no farther hell than that I feel. 1833Chalmers Const. Man (1835) I. ii. 133 They kindle a hell in the heart of the unhappy owner. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. (1871) I. 207 The prisons were hells on earth. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Hell-afloat, a vessel with a bad name for tyranny. 1903Kipling Five Nations 51 Yes, we shall be perfectly pleased with our work, And that is the perfectest Hell of it! 1944Living off Land v. 103 A boggy area is hell to plough through with a wheeled vehicle. 1951N. Balchin Way through Wood viii. 111, I should think he'd be pretty average hell to live with. 1971H. E. Bates Blossoming World xv. 176 If the times had been bad for writers in 1926,..they were now hell.
b. A place of turmoil and wild discord.
1818Byron Ch. Har. iv. lxix, The hell of waters! where they howl and hiss, And boil in endless torture.
†c. A yawning depth, an abyss. Obs.
c1620Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 148 The tossed ship from Hells goes to the skye.
d. a hell of a ―, an infernal ―; also, an exceedingly bad, great, loud, etc.: cf. a devil of a ― (devil 14). Also the hell of a —. Cf. helluva.
1776J. Leacock Fall Brit. Tyranny iv. vii, This is a hell of a council of war. 1778in S. Curwen Jrnl. (1842) x. 207 After travelling in the heat of the season in a hell of a climate. 1806M. L. Weems Lett. (1929) II. 354 I've had a hell of a time in your service. 1810Morn. Post 26 June in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1811) XIV. 278 They all knew what a hell of a row had been kicked up. 1897‘Mark Twain’ Following Equator xxxi, It's a charming town, with a hell of a hotel... It's the worst hotel in Australia. 1910R. W. Service Ballads of Cheechako 133 Lord! it's a hell of a night. a1918McCudden Five Yrs. R.F.C. (1919) 232 There was immediately a Hell of a yell. 1920C. E. Mulford J. Nelson xii. 126 You must 'a' had one h—l of a time gettin' out. 1923― Black Buttes ii. 24 He was a hell of a trail-boss, an' he had a hell of an outfit, if you leave it to me! 1931J. Betjeman Mount Zion 20 And we each had a couple of toy balloons and made the hell of a din. 1942N. Coward Blithe Spirit i. ii. 34 Pedalling off down the drive at the hell of a speed. 1944Living off Land vii. 155 The Abo thinks himself a hell of a feller, the same as you do. 1947‘N. Shute’ Chequer Board i. 3, I had the hell of a headache. 1964E. A. Nida Toward Sci. Transl. ix. 215 In Bassa, a language of Liberia, the English phrase hell of a has been borrowed through Pidgin English as an attributive meaning ‘tremendous, great, and important’, so that a Bassa churchgoer can quite appropriately tell the pastor that his latest message was ‘a helava sermon’. 1969New Yorker 14 June 44/3 His forehand is a hell of a weapon.
e. Used in the genitive (esp. with own), or as hells quasi-adverbially, with intensive force.
1926E. Hemingway Fiesta (1927) i. vii. 65 You've got hell's own drag with the concierge. 1962‘J. Le Carré’ Murder of Quality i. 10 He's entertaining every don... Hells extravagant. 1963C. Bingham Coronet among Weeds ii. 25 They sit about and..talk about their ancestors. Ancestors are hell's boring. 1968‘M. Underwood’ Man who killed too Soon ix. 84, I had a puncture. I had hell's own time changing the wheel.
†5. A part of a building, etc., which for its darkness or discomfort, or for a similar reason, was compared to hell; the name of a part of the old law courts at Westminster, app. used at one time as a record office; also, a place of confinement for debtors; hence, a sponging-house. Obs.
1322–3Ely Sacrist's Roll in Stewart Ely (1868) 275 Camera in Infirmaria quæ vocatur Helle. 1474Caxton Chesse iii. iii. (1860) 3 Men of the lawe..that longe to the courtes of the chaunserye, kynges benche, comyn-place, cheker, ressayt, and helle, and the bagge berars of the same. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iv. ii. 40 One that before the Iudgment carries poore soules to hel. 1598Florio, Secreta,..also the name of a place in Venice where all their secret records and ancient euidences be kept, as hell is in westminster hall. 1628R. S. Counter-Rat xxi, Aske any how such newes I tell, Of Wood-streets hole, or Poultries Hell. a1661Fuller Worthies ii. (1662) 236 There is no redemption from Hell. There is a place partly under, partly by the Exchequer chamber, commonly called Hell..formerly this place was appointed a prison for the King's debtors, who never were freed thence, untill they had paid their uttermost due demanded of them.
6. The name for the ‘den’ to which captives are carried in the games Barley-break and Prisoner's Base.
1557,1608[see barley-break]. 1580Sidney Arcadia i. (1627) 87 The two that in mid place, Hell called, were, Must striue with waiting foot, and watching eye To catch of them, and them to Hell to beare, That they, as well as they, Hell may supplye. a1641Suckling (R.), Love, Reason, Hate, did once bespeak Three mates to play at barley-break..Love coupled last, and so it fell That Love and Folly were in hell. 1835Penny Cycl. III. 466/2 s.v. Barley-Break, When all had been taken in turn, the last couple was said to be in hell, and the game ended.
7. a. A place under a tailor's shop-board, in which shreds or pieces of cloth, cut off in the process of cutting out clothes, are thrown, and looked upon as perquisites. (So Ger. hölle: see Grimm.) Also sometimes applied to a place where refuse type is thrown by printers.
1592Greene Upst. Courtier (1871) 30 He can cast large shreds of such rich stuff into hell, under his shopboard. 1606Day Ile of Guls i. iii. (1881) 15 Like a Taylers hell; it eates up part of euery mans due. 1704Swift T. Tub iii. (1709) 57 The Taylor's Hell is the Type of a Critic's Common-place-book. 1805Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1806) IX. 245 note, Hell, a place so termed by the knights of the needle, wherein they stow their cabbage.
b. Also designating similar receptacles for waste.
1872Saddl. Harn. & Carriage Builder's Gaz. 1 Dec. 207/2 Each smith shop has what is termed the ‘hell’, and in cutting off a set of tires, if the farmer is not present, the largest half of the end cut off finds its way to the ‘hell.’ 1886Encycl. Brit. XXI. 345/2 A useful adjunct to the many saw-mills, which produce more waste than can be consumed in raising the necessary steam, is the ‘slab-burner’ or ‘hell’.
8. A gaming-house; a gambling-booth. (= F. enfer, Mercier Tableau de Paris 1783, cxcviii.)
1794Sporting Mag. III. 130 A noted gambling-house in Dame-street, Dublin..known by the name of Hell. 1812Sir R. Wilson Diary I. 38 Then to the conversazione, which is no other than a great gambling hall, or hell in classical terms. 1823Byron Juan xi. xxix, Don Juan..Pursued his path, and drove past some hotels, St. James's Palace and St. James's ‘Hells’! 1870Steinmetz Gaming Table I. v. 102. 1882 Stevenson New Arab. Nts. I. 107 The proprietor of a hell.
9. In imprecations, wishes of evil, and expressions of impatience or irritation: used similarly to devil (devil 14–20). See also 4 d. hell's bells!: an expression of anger or annoyance. what the hell!, = what does it matter?, who cares? Also used in expressions of strong disagreement of the type ‘Will I hell!’ = ‘I won't’.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 21 Let Fortune goe to hell for it, not I. 1678Dryden All for Love ii. i, Hell, death! this eunuch pandar ruins you, You will not see her? 1691― K. Arthur ii. ii, By hell, she sings them back, in my despite. 1816‘Quiz’ Grand Master vi. 142 Gentlemen, you may go to H—ll. 1836M. Scott Cruise Midge I. xiii. 72 So, good men, go to hell all of you. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy xviii, What the hell are you making such a howling about? 1842J. Wilson Ess., Streams (1856) 39 Not, at least, for mine—no—hell and furies! not for mine! 1872Geo. Eliot Middlem. II. iii. xxiii. 21 But, what the hell! the horse was a penny trumpet to that roarer of yours. 1893St. Louis Republic 8 July 16/3 The dealer..said: ‘Say, Rick, do you know this gentleman? He's been playing mighty lucky.’ Rickebaugh glanced at the great stack of chips..and sarcastically remarked: ‘Lucky h—!’ 1902R. H. Davis Capt. Macklin 295 ‘Then why in hell didn't you say so!’ he roared. 1912Z. Grey Riders of Purple Sage i. 10 To hell with your Mormon law! 1912E. Hubbard Age of Rubber 11 Goshity gosh, helzbelz, there ain't no such animile. 1913Maclean's Mag. Mar. 45/1 ‘To hell with 'em,’ he grated. 1919Thrill Bk. 1 May 13/1 ‘Mister!’ I corrected him in his own tone... ‘Mister, was it?’ he rumbled... ‘Mister— hell!’ 1920S. Lewis Main Street 352 Hell's bells,..no harm in being polite. 1925N. Coward Fallen Angels iii. 83 Maurice: We are great friends—they confide in me. Fred: The hell they do! 1925New Yorker 22 Aug. 5/1 Where the hell is my comb? 1927D. L. Sayers Unnatural Death iii. xxi. 244 Hell's bells. Here's somebody at the door. 1931E. Linklater Juan in Amer. ii. xvii. 183 ‘We'll all see her,’ shouted the Snake's Hips. ‘Will you hell!’ said Rosy. 1931G. B. Shaw Too True to be Good (1934) i. 46 The Patient... Doesn't that tempt you? The Nurse. Tempt me hell! I'll see you further first. 1932J. Maxwell (title) Hell's bells and mademoiselles. 1933Atlanta Jrnl. 21 Jan., I've abandoned it completely. The hell with it. 1936R. Lehmann Weather in Streets ii. 235 As if she'd decided to say at last, ‘Oh, what the hell! Let them rip.’ 1942N. Coward Blithe Spirit i. ii. 42 Mrs. Bradman: Ought we to pick it up or leave it where it is? Dr. Bradman: How the hell do I know? 1943F. J. Bell Condition Red 38 Carrier, hell! It's a goddamn submarine! 1957New Yorker 5 Oct. 37/2 ‘The hell with organization,’ Todd said. 1958Engineering 4 Apr. 424/3 If we can't do it how the hell can I expect Government to do it? Ibid. 425/1 Why the hell haven't we got a computer? 1959M. Hastings Hour-Glass to Eternity ii. i. 154 Hell's bells! You talk and I'll spill the beans. 1961John o' London's 18 May 567/3 The hell with realism. 1962P. Gregory Like Tigress at Bay vi. 70, I wish to hell I was out of it. 1962Sunday Express 1 Apr. 19/5 Am I dressed for ease and comfort? Am I hell? 1968Landfall XXII. 195 Why in hell didn't you get John to build it for you? 1968A. MacLeod Dam xiv. 140 ‘Hell's teeth!’ he swore furiously.
10. Phrases and Proverbs. (Cf. devil.)
* gen.
1590Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons Proeme *iij b, They verifie the olde Proverb, which is, That such as were never but in Hell, doo thinke that there is no other Heaven. 1600S. Nicholson Acolastus (1876) 38 Before my hell of foule mishap breake loose. 1617Moryson Itin. iii. 53 England..is said to be the Hell of Horses, the Purgatory of Servants, and the Paradise of Weomen. 1632Hausted Rivall Friends v. x, Fye, fye, Hell is broke loose upon me. a1633G. Herbert Jac. Prud. (Chandos) 363 Hell is full of good meanings and wishings. 1640H. Mill Night's Search i. 8 He sets out sin (most lively) black as hell. 1678Dryden Œdipus ii. i, Since hell's broke loose, why should not you be mad? 1775Johnson in Boswell (1887) II. 360 Sir, Hell is paved with good intentions. 1780Cowper Progr. Err. 609 He that will be cheated to the last, Delusions strong as Hell shall bind him fast. 1784― Task v. 862 Fables false as hell..lure down to death The uninformed and heedless souls of men. 1821Byron Vis. Judgm. lviii, Their..cries..realised the phrase of ‘hell broke loose’.
** With another substantive. b. not a chance, hope, in hell: no possibility; also, a snowball's chance in hell and similar phrases.
1923O. Onions Peace in Our Time iii. 37 ‘I rather fancied Lovelightly.’ ‘Lovelightly? Not a hope in Hell!’ 1931Amer. Speech VI. 435 As much chance as a snowball in hell. 1961K. Vonnegut Sirens of Titan (1962) v. 129 The Army of Mars didn't have the chance of a snowball in hell. 1963J. T. Story Something for Nothing iii. 79 ‘What are the chances of a job here, then?’ Albert asked. ‘For you—not a chance in hell.’ She spoke matter-of-factly. 1966J. Porter Sour Cream vii. 94 One telephone call from Melkin..and Babak wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell. 1972Listener 27 Jan. 126/2 Poor Robert's empirical doubts don't stand a snowflake's chance in hell.
c. hell and (or or) high water: any great difficulty or obstacle.
1915Everybody's Mag. June 69/2 He'll be one of us in spite of hell and high water. 1918C. E. Mulford Man fr. Bar-20 xii. 120 Logan found out that he was a real man, a gun-man, an' not scared of h—l an' high water. 1939A. Keith Land below Wind i. ii. 26 ‘Let empires be built!’—and, come hell or high water, they build 'em. 1939P. I. Wellman Trampling Herd viii. 93 ‘In spite of hell and high water’..is a legacy of the cattle trail when the cowboys drove their horn-spiked masses of longhorns through high water at every river and continuous hell between. 1962Sunday Times 12 Aug. 27/7 A superb instinct for working with the camera guided her to rough out a public image which, come hell or high water, she was not going to change.
d. hell for leather: at breakneck speed, orig. used with reference to riding on horseback; also (usu. with hyphens) attrib. or as adj.
1889Kipling Story of Gadsbys (1891) 116 Here, Gaddy, take the note to Bingle and ride hell-for-leather. 1893― Many Invent. 47, I perceived a gunner-orf'cer in full rig'mentals perusin' down the road, hell-for-leather, wid his mouth open. 1915D. O. Barnett Lett. 176 The little English plane went humming back, hell-for-leather. 1927Sunday Express 10 July 4 A long line of stage coaches starting on a hell-for-leather race. 1928H. W. Freeman Joseph & His Brethren vi. 48 Charging down hell for leather with your sabres all flashing in the sun. 1930Daily Express 6 Sept. 8/7 That magnificent, hell-for-leather, boiling verse. 1963Times 21 Feb. 3/2 Australia's plan was to make 90 during the afternoon, if they could, without losing too many wickets and to go hell for leather afterwards.
e. hell on wheels: someone or something regarded as resembling hell; also attrib. or quasi-adj.
1843Quincy (Ill.) Herald 10 Mar. 1/4 Hell-upon-Wheels!..the most appropriate name for that craft [sc. a steam-boat]. 1868S. Bowles in F. L. Paxson Hist. Amer. Frontier (1924) lii. 497 ‘Hell on Wheels’ was the appropriate name that Samuel Bowles of the Springfield Republican bestowed upon the town he visited in 1868. 1897P. Warung Tales of Old Regime 50 To look up an' know heaven's above, an' not the roof of a hell-on-wheels—oh, that'll be grand! 1945Wyndham Lewis Let. 13 Mar. (1963) 381 We learn here that the ‘Hell-on-wheels’ outfit has reached the Elbe. Hooray! 1966J. Pearl Crucifixion P. McCabe (1967) ii. 24 He's hell on wheels on Monday mornings. 1968S. Challis Death on Quiet Beach xii. 174 You don't pull any imitation disease over the immigration doctors. Those guys are hell on wheels.
f. hell's delight: pandemonium.
1823‘J. Bee’ Slang 95 Kicking up hell's delights. 1835Sessions Paper Apr. 959 She said if I went out, she would kick up hell's delight. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms II. xix. 287 If these fellows are half drunk they'll..play hell's delight. 1918W. J. Locke Rough Road xi. 131 Just listen to the hell's delight that's going on over yonder. 1958L. A. G. Strong Light above Lake 26 Once let anything bad go wrong with them, and you'd hell's delight to mend it. 1961M. Kelly Spoilt Kill iii. 134 There'll be hell's delight ringing round all the hotels till we find him.
*** With a verb. g. to beat, blast, knock, etc., hell out of (a person): to pound heavily, thrash, ‘beat up’; also fig. to achieve supremacy over.
1922Joyce Ulysses 247 His old fellow welted hell out of him. 1925[see gang v.2 2 b]. 1937E. Ambler Uncommon Danger viii. 110 Are you going to be sensible or do I knock hell out of you first? 1945C. Isherwood Prater Violet 95 If anybody says you're not, I'll help you beat the hell out of him. 1958P. Scott Mark of Warrior ii. 166 How did we interrogate Mr Baksh? Beat the hell out of him, I hope? 1965Times 15 Apr. 12/1 Given the response of which our people are capable..we shall be ready to knock hell out of you.
h. when, till, until hell freezes (over): advb. phr. indicating a date in the impossibly distant future, for ever.
1919J. A. Fisher Let. 13 June in Henry Bristow Ltd. Catal. (1973) No. 203.9 Yours till hell freezes. 1931Amer. Speech VI. 435 Till hell freezes over. 1949Romance Philol. II. 105 We have the meaning ‘forever’ in ‘I'll wait until Hell freezes over’ and the meaning ‘never’ in ‘I'll do it when Hell freezes over’. 1961‘A. A. Fair’ Stop at Red Light (1962) ii. 36 If their suspicions once get aroused, they'll investigate until hell freezes over. 1962Listener 1 Nov. 704/1 ‘I am prepared,’ Mr Stevenson rasped out, ‘to wait for an answer till hell freezes over.’ 1966Guardian 17 Aug. 9/2 The Texan chairman..declared that he would..open the hearing today even if it meant going to gaol ‘until hell freezes’.
i. to get hell: to be given hell, to be reprimanded, dressed down.
1938E. Bowen Death of Heart iii. iv. 382 ‘I was using the telephone in Miss Paullie's study, and she came in and caught me...’ ‘So then you got hell, I suppose.’ 1951Wodehouse Old Reliable ii. 32, I would only get hell from Emily Post.
j. to get the (or to) hell out (of a place): to make a hasty retreat.
a1911D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. x. 257 Get the hell out... I want to sleep. 1929E. Linklater Poet's Pub vii. 83 Get to hell out of this, you accidental offspring of a Marine sentry. 1934W. Saroyan Daring Young Man (1935) 262 Get the hell out of here, I reply quietly. 1944‘Brahms’ & ‘Simon’ Titania has Mother xiii. 147 ‘Get to hell out of here,’ he roared. 1952‘J. Tey’ Singing Sands ix. 139 You want her to get the hell out of here. 1961J. Heller Catch-22 (1962) vi. 57 He..felt that any who did not share this confidence he had placed in them could get the hell out. The only way they could get the hell out, though..was by flying the extra ten missions. 1972Wodehouse Pearls, Girls, & Monty Bodkin v. 67 You ought to be in bed. Get the hell out of here, Bodkin.
k. to give (a person) hell: to give him ‘a bad time’.
1851Harper's Mag. III. 461/1 Riley shouted, ‘Forward and give them h–ll.’ 1863O. W. Norton Army Lett. (1903) 161 We have met the enemy and given them hell. a1917E. A. Mackintosh War, the Liberator (1918) 141 You swine, I'll give you hell for this. 1940N. Marsh Surfeit of Lampreys (1941) xv. 235 Gabriel would give me hell and we would both get rather angry with each other.
l. hell to pay: great trouble, discord, pandemonium.
1807Ld. Paget Let. 29 July in A. Paget Paget Papers (1896) II. 311 Did you not know..that there has been hell to pay between the Dukes of York and Cumberland. 1811Wellington in Gurw. Desp. VIII. 235 Unless the design has been altered..we shall have the Emperor in Spain and hell to pay before much time elapses. 1956Wallis & Blair Thunder Above (1959) iv. 42 I got you all in this mess... There'll be hell to pay.
m. to play hell (with): to upset, confuse; to alter for the worse; to make a fuss; also † to play hell and tommy (with).
1803G. Colman John Bull iii. ii. 39 I'll be good to the landlord, but I'll play hell with his wife! 1832–4De Quincey Cæsars Wks. 1862 IX. 135 Lord Bacon played Hell and Tommy when casually raised to the supreme seat in the council. 1879McCarthy Donna Quixote xxxii, I've played hell-and-tommy already with the lot of them. a1911D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) I. xiii. 218 Don't drink..it'll play hell—excuse me—it'll spoil your looks. 1927H. Crane Let. 19 Dec. (1965) 312 Port every night for dinner is playing hell with my waistline. 1937T. Rattigan French without Tears i. 22 As a matter of fact it would rather amuse me to see you play hell with the Commander. 1959Listener 4 June 979/1 Wingate and his Chindits would play hell with the Japanese communications. 1960‘A. Burgess’ Right to Answer xix. 201 E talks about gross neglect..and e plays ell. 1960L. Cooper Accomplices ii. v. 119 The firm..wanted delivery and were playing hell about it.
n. to raise hell: to create a disturbance; to cause great trouble. (The slogan ‘Kansas should raise less corn and more hell’ is attributed to Mrs Mary Ellen Lease (1853–1933) but proof is lacking. See Kansas Quarterly Fall 1969, 52–58.)
1896Emporia Weekly Gaz. 20 Aug., We have decided to send three or four harpies out lecturing, telling the people that Kansas is raising hell and letting the corn go to weeds. a1911D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. viii. 214 What hell Jim will raise when he finds I spent the night working in this house. 1959M. Scott White Elephant iii. 24 He would go home, ring Bert and ‘raise hell’.
**** Other phrases. o. (just) for the hell of it: out of (pure) devilry, (merely) for fun.
1934‘J. Spenser’ Limey breaks In x. 166 Both of them were of the mischievous type that misbehaves ‘just for the hell of it’. 1939R. Chandler in Sat. Even. Post 14 Oct. 74/3, I wouldn't be telling you just for the hell of it. 1951W. Stevens Let. 7 Sept. (1967) 726, I assume that he is merely doing it for the hell of it. 1959P. McCutchan Storm South xiii. 197 The kind of bloke you'd expect to find taking passage in a venture like ours, just for the hell of it.
p. like hell: recklessly, desperately; extremely, very much: freq. as a mere intensive; also ironically, to indicate emphatic contradiction: not at all, on the contrary.
1855Thackeray Newcomes I. xxix, I tried every place..and played like hell. 1892Kipling Lett. of Travel (1920) 66 ‘Hit, old man?’ ‘Like hell,’ he said. 1922D. H. Lawrence England, my England 231 ‘And I shall miss thee, Jack.’..‘Miss you like hell.’ 1925F. Lonsdale Last of Mrs. Cheyney i. 19 Maria: Enjoying the concert, Willie? Willie: Like hell! 1930D. Hammett Maltese Falcon xx. 260 ‘You can't say that.’ ‘Like hell I can't,’ Spade said. 1941H. MacInnes Above Suspicion ix. 76 ‘I've quite enjoyed it here.’ Like hell I have, she added under her breath.
q. merry hell: a disturbance, upheaval, great trouble; severe pain.
a1911D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. xi. 279 We don't dare let you off... They'd send down along the line, to have merry hell raised with us. 1922S. Lewis Babbitt xix. 229 I've come to raise particular merry hell. c1926‘Mixer’ Transport Workers' Song Bk. 13 We don't get drunk to fight the boss Or kick up merry hell. 1931D. L. Sayers Five Red Herrings xxii. 248, I am supposed to have faked an alibi, suborned my friends and played merry hell generally. 1938S. V. Benét Thirteen O'Clock iv. 268 If you think it was all romance..you're wrong. A lot of it was merry hell. 1944J. H. Fullarton Troop Target 86 This arm's giving me merry hell. 1961B. Fergusson Watery Maze iv. 102 The Special Boat Squadron..was to play merry hell in the Eastern Mediterranean during the next two years. 1963M. Duggan in Landfall Mar. 9 Watching mum with a shoehorn wedging nines into sevens and suffering merry hell.
r. to hell and gone: used hyperbolically = ‘a long way’, ‘for ever’, etc.
1938S. J. Perelman in New Yorker 15 Oct. 17/2 Zarah Trenwick just got blasted to hellangone in her tepee at the Gayboy. 1944N. Mailer in Cross-Section 332 Picking up two-foot piles of plates and lugging them to hell and gone. 1957M. Millar Soft Talkers 39 That's my business. I can contradict myself to hell and gone if I feel like it. 1972R. Lockridge Preach No More ii. 24 Name's Manuel something... Lives to-hell-and-gone downtown.
11. attrib. and Comb.
a. Simple attrib., as hell-babe, hell-bond, hell-bound, hell-brew, hell-cauldron, hell-deed, hell-fiend, hell-flame, hell-pack, hell-pain, hell-pot, hell-powers, hell-pride, hell-queen, hell-rake, hell-rook, hell-shout, hell-spell, hell-spurge, hell-torment, hell-worm.
In OE. and early ME. combinations, such as helle bealu, helle déofol, helle fýr, helle is the genitive, ‘of hell’. OE. had a few real compounds, as hellcræft, helldeoful, helldor.
1838Dickens O. Twist l, ‘Open the door of some place where I can lock this screeching *Hell-babe.’
1667Milton P.L. ii. 644 *Hell bounds high reaching to the horrid Roof.
1923Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves viii. 69 ‘Have some lemon squash,’ I said... The *hell-brew appeared to buck him up, for he resumed in a slightly more pally manner. 1935Discovery Sept. 264/2 The dart poison..is indeed a hell-brew.
1740E. Baynard Health (ed. 6) 46 Some little *Hell-Cub.
1546Supplic. Poore Comm. (E.E.T.S.) 90 Thys more then *hell darkenesse.
1652Benlowes Theoph. x. lxxviii. 189 Thou..with *hell-deeds souls to hell dost sink.
1678W. Dillingham Serm. Funer. Lady Alston 25 So fall down like a Log into *Hell-flames.
1923R. Graves Whipperginny 56 Twenty swans glide out With *hell-packs loathlier yet to amaze the night.
1601Shakes. All's Well ii. iii. 245, I would it were *hell paines for thy sake.
a1711Ken Preparatives Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 47 *Hell-Pow'rs the Voice shall quiv'ring hear.
1944Blunden Shells by Stream 50 Passions armed with horror and *hell-pride.
1918D. H. Lawrence New Poems 63 Out of the *hell-queen's cup, the heaven's pale wine.
1794R. F. Greville Diary 28 Aug. (1930) 309 His M. order'd Me to call at Farmer Sherring's where I order'd two of those Broad Rakes called *Hell Rakes.
1879G. M. Hopkins Poems (1918) 44 The *hell-rook ranks.
1834L. Ritchie Wand. by Seine 206 There was also the *hell⁓sauce, composed of pepper.
1813Plunkett in Ho. Com. 25 Feb., Assailed by the *Hell-shout of ‘No Popery’.
1605Sylvester Du Bartas iii. iii. iii. Law 752 Think'st..with thy *Hel-spels thus To crosse our Counsels.
1849D. G. Rossetti Let. 18 Oct. (1965) I. 74 *Hell-spurge of geomaunt and teraphim.
a1603A. W. in Farr S. P. Eliz. (1845) II. 452 Me..He..Brought from *hell-torments to the ioyes of heauen.
b. Objective and obj. genitive, as hell-confounding, hell-deserving, hell-raising, hell-raking, hell-roaring, hell-tearing adjs.; hell-buster, hell-keeper, hell-raiser, hell-raker ns. Also hell-rake vb.
1929J. B. Priestley Good Companions iii. iii. 2 They're all damned good, but the last two are real *hell-busters.
1648J. Beaumont Psyche 20 (T.) His Lord's almighty name..Of *hell-confounding majestie made up.
1758S. Hayward Serm. 21 To rescue *hell-deserving sinners.
1859Art Taming Horses ix. 151 The ‘pals’ of fighting men and *hell-keepers.
1914Emporia (Kans.) Gaz. 13 Jan., He is a..rip-snorting *hell-raiser. 1925S. Lewis Martin Arrowsmith iii. 20 Young men technically known as ‘hell-raisers’ looked forward to his lectures on physiology. 1928Daily Express 1 June 9 She dislikes the ‘hell-raiser’ that he likes to make the public believe he is. 1971Guardian 24 July 10/6 The ex-hell raiser of the Bevanite group [sc. Michael Foot]..seemed to have settled comfortably into the new role of Left-wing Whip.
1922S. Lewis Babbitt iii. 25 When it comes to..a lot of *hell-raising all the while.., it's too rich for my blood! 1936W. Stevens Let. 27 Jan. (1967) 307 Any form of hell raising is simply out. 1966Wodehouse Plum Pie ix. 215 She's the hell-raising type, always apt to be starting something.
1915J. E. Flecker Old Ships 5 The pirate Genoese *Hell-raked them till they rolled Blood, water, fruit and corpses up the hold.
1816Scott Old Mort. xli, A' thae *hell-rakers o' dragoons wad be at his whistle in a moment.
1606Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. i. Trophies 674 Whose *Hell⁓raking, Nature-shaking Spell. 1960Spectator 17 June 870 Chatter nostalgically but amusingly about the hellraking times at Balliol.
1920J. Gregory Man to Man iv, Your *hell-roaring old grand-dad.
1915W. J. Locke Jaffery xxi, These *hell-tearing fellows.
c. Instrumental and locative, as hell-assisted, hell-begotten, hell-brewed, hell-engendered, hell-enkindled, hell-girt, hell-governed, hell-hatched, hell-haunted, hell-hired, hell-instructed, hell-kindled, hell-mouthed, hell-plumed, hell-sprung, hell-spun, hell-taught, etc., adjs.
a1711Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 378 The Brute..His *Hell-assisted Inchantation slights.
1751Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) I. xi. 94 A *hell-begotten brat.
1667Milton P.L. ii. 697 And reck'n'st thou thy self with Spirits of Heav'n, *Hell-doom'd.
1581Sidney Astr. & Stella xlviii, Let not mine eyes be *hel-driv'n from that light.
1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. ii. 67 This good Kings blood, Which his *Hell-gouern'd arme hath butchered.
1600Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood 3 For ther's no habite of *hell-hatched sinne, That we delight not to be clothed in.
1691Dryden K. Arthur iv. i, Bound to the fate of this *hell-haunted grove.
1934Dylan Thomas Let. 11 May (1966) 126 Today I complain again for a *hell-mouthed mist is blowing.
1876G. Meredith Vittoria iii. 35 Those *hell-plumed Tyrolese.
1647Trapp Marrow Gd. Auth. in Comm. Ep. 610 Hell was long since said by one to be paved with the shaven crowns of those *hell-sprung locusts.
1797College 33 Foul myst'ry drew Around her *hell-spun web.
d. Similative, ‘like or as hell’, as hell-black, hell-dark, hell-deep, hell-hued, hell-purple, hell-red adjs.; also hell-like adj.
1605Shakes. Lear iii. vii. 60 With such a storme as his bear head, In *Hell-blacke-night indur'd. 1904Swinburne Poems VI. 392 Till murder dawns Blood-red from hell-black treason's heart of hate.
1598Hakluyt Voy. (N.), To guide the ship in the *helle-darke night.
1592Sylvester Triumph Faith Ded., *Hell-deepe-founded Monuments. 1632Massinger Maid of Hon. iv. iv, So horrid oaths, And hell-deep imprecations.
1733E. Erskine Serm. Wks. 1871 II. 178 We are become *hell-hued, black like the Ethiopian.
1563B. Googe Eglogs (Arb.) 83 From whence these *Hellike torments spryng. 1625J. Phillips Way to Heaven 39 That fearefull and hell-like torment in Purgatory.
1923D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 57 At her white ankles Hell rearing its husband-splendid, serpent heads, *Hell-purple, to get at her.
12. Special combs.: hell-box, a term for a box for holding damaged or broken type; hell-broth, a decoction of infernal character or prepared for an infernal purpose; † hell-cart, an early nick-name for a hackney carriage: see quots.; hell-devil, Satan; also ‘the hellgrammite-fly’ (Funk); hell-diver U.S., a grebe; the dabchick; hell-dog = hell-hound; hell-door, the gate or entrance of hell; a place that may lead to hell; hell-driver, (a) slang, a coachman (Dict. Cant. Crew, a 1700); (b) one who drives a motor vehicle in a very fast or dare-devil manner; hence hell-driving; hell-god, a god of the infernal regions, an infernal deity (so hell-goddess); hell-hag, a diabolical or vile woman, a hell-cat; † hell-hated a., hated or abhorred as hell; hell-hole, -house, the hole or mansion of hell, an infernal hole or house; hell-kite, a kite of hell, a person of hellish cruelty; hell-matter, the broken or battered type in the ‘hell-box’; † hell-moth, a term applied to a prostitute; hell-mouth, the mouth or jaws of hell; hell-pit, the pit or abyss of hell, the bottomless pit; hell-receptacle = hell-box; hell's angel (usu. in pl.), name given in the 1950s in the U.S. (later to similar people elsewhere) to a member of a group of lawless, usually leather-jacketed, motor-cyclists notorious for their disturbances of civil order in California (featured, but there called ‘Black Rebels’, in a 1954 film entitled ‘The Wild One’); also earlier casual uses, e.g. (in pl.) as the name of a film about air-battles in the 1914–18 war (quot. 1930) and (in sing.) as the name of a Flying Fortress aeroplane (quot. 1943); hell-ship, a hell-afloat (cf. hell n. 4 a); hell-wain, a phantom wagon seen in the sky at night (Halliwell); † hell-ware, the inhabitants of hell.
1889Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang I. 458/1 *Hell-box, the receptacle for bad, broken, or ‘battered’ letters, which are eventually melted down. 1909‘Mark Twain’ Is Shakes. Dead? vii. 73 If a man should..say ‘..empty..the imposing stone into the hell-box..’ I should..know that the writer was only a printer theoretically, not practically.
1605Shakes. Macb. iv. i. 19 For a Charme of powrefull trouble, Like a *Hell-broth, boyle and bubble. 1861Lowell Wks. (1890) V. 86 The caldron where the hell-broth of anarchy was brewing.
1630J. Taylor (Water P.) A Thiefe 52 Wks. ii. 121/1 Then upstart *Helcart-Coaches were to seeke, A man could scarce see twenty in a weeke. 1634Withals' Dict. 417/1 Rhedæ meritoriæ, coaches that bee hyred for money. Herein doe the Women that bee called Meritoriæ, such Hyrelings..ride..and therefore they cal them Helcarts, such Coaches that be so employed. 1654Gayton Pleas. Notes ii. i. 36 The Ladies in the Hell Carts screem'd out for their Hector.
1839–40W. Irving Wolfert's R. (1855) 179 He could live under water like that notable species of wild-duck, commonly called the *hell⁓diver. 1940E. T. Seton Trail of Artist-Naturalist 89, I traced them to the pied⁓bill grebe, or little helldiver.
a1225Ancr. R. 290 Sweng hem aȝean..þene *helle dogge. a1618Sylvester Panthea Invoc. iii. in Wks. 1880 II. 343/2 Make these pure Hell-Dogs in their Dens to couch. 1814Southey Roderick iii. Poet. Wks. 1838 IX. 31 This hell-dog turn'd aside Toward his home.
a1000Guthlac 559 in Exeter Bk., Wuldres cempan haliᵹ husul-bearn æt *hel-dore. a1200Moral Ode 182 in Trin. Coll. Hom. 225 Brecð nafre eft crist helle dure. 1681Otway Soldier's Fort. iv. i, Ay, that's Hell-door, and my Damnation's in the Inside.
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §723/2 Automobile racer,..*hell driver. 1971Cape Times 13 Feb. 7/6 The helldriver with the 99-to-1 chance of becoming the first Cape Times *hell-driving champion. Ibid., One of the hottest nights of helldriving.
c888K. ælfred Boeth. xxxv. §6 Ða þohte he [Orfeus] þæt he wolde ᵹesecan *helle godu. a1618Sylvester Maiden's Blush 52 Much to know is given Unto that Hell-God, by the God of Heaven.
1655Bp. J. Richardson On O.T. 281 (T.) A corroding disease it [envy] is; an *hel-hag that feeds upon its marrow, bones and strongest parts. 1817Coleridge Sibyl. Leaves (1862) 265 It roused the Hell-Hag.
1605Shakes. Lear v. iii. 147 Backe do I tosse these Treasons to thy head, With the *hell hated Lye ore-whelme thy heart.
13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 223 Hurled in-to *helle-hole. 1866J. C. Gregg Life in Army xxi. 184 All the whiskey shops, even down to the lowest hell-hole, adopt the decent name..of a ‘Coffee-house’. 1882M. Arnold Irish Ess. 71 Our ‘Hell-holes’, as Cobbett calls our manufacturing towns. 1891G. M. Hopkins Let. 15 June (1956) 63 Liverpool too, ‘hellhole’ though it is. 1896Tablet 28 Mar. 490 Vice and cruelty..made of old Goa the hell-hole of India. 1945J. B. Priestley Three Men in New Suits ii. 26 Go and drudge in some hell-hole of an office.
a1000Guthlac 677 in Exeter Bk., In *helle hus. 1659D. Pell Impr. Sea 491 In ships which are meer Hell-houses of swearing and prophaneness.
1605Shakes. Macb. iv. iii. 217 All my pretty ones?..Oh *Hell-Kite! All? What, All my pretty Chickens? 1849James Woodman viii, There is no knowing what such hell kites may do.
18..Mark Twain Printer in N.Y. Sun (Farmer Amer.), I put the good type in his case and the broken ones among the *hell-matter.
1602Rowlands Greene's Ghost 4 Is there not one appointed for the apprehending of such *hell-moths [harlots and curtizans], that eat a man out of bodie and soule?
a1175Cott. Hom. 239 Wat sceol se wrecce don þe..iseȝð.. under him *helle muð open. 1546Coverdale Lord's Supper Wks. 1844 I. 453 But after this detestable opinion was invented, this unhappy custom proceedeth out of it, as out of an hell⁓mouth. 1623Middleton More Dissemblers iv. ii, Hell⁓mouth be with thee!
c1200Ormin 10215 Forr *helle pitt niss næfre full. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 170 Procuryng his passe porte to poste it to hell pitt, there to be punished.
1876J. Gould Letter-press Printer 156 *Hell receptacle, the receptacle for broken or battered letters; the old metal box; the shoe.
1930(film title) *Hell's Angels. 1943Examiner (San Francisco) 8 Aug. 3/1 The ten-man crew which manned the flying fortress, ‘Hell's Angel’, on her thirty-three raids across the English channel. 1957Chronicle (San Francisco) 3 June 5/1 It also attracted several hundred cyclists who are not American Motorcycle Association members, but who belong to such clubs as the Vampires, Scavengers and Hell's Angels group that rides in the Bay Area. 1957Call-Bulletin (San Francisco) 9 Aug. 3/4 Police raiders cracked down last night on the Hell's Angels, a hard-riding motorcycle outfit whose members have had brushes with the law in the past. 1958Ibid. 1 Aug. 11/1 The main wheel of the ‘Hell's Angels’ motorcycle club is a more or less conservative delivery man during the week, but Fridays he..combs his hair into a wild mane, gets into black denims and motorcycle boots, plus a red-fringed vest with the club's death's-head emblem, fastens his pierced ear-lobe and dyes his blonde handlebar mustache with heliotrope pencil. 1967G. Legman Fake Revolt 21 The hoodlum drug-addicts and homosexual motorcyclists..who've had two ‘Hell's Angels’ movies already exposing (read: glorifying) them. 1968Listener 22 Feb. 253/2 The Hell's Angels—those much-publicised outlaw motor-cyclists, noted for their wearing of leather jackets and Nazi insignia, whose hunting ground is mainly California. 1969Oz Apr. 3/2 Hell's Angels were moved in on the 3rd floor as a protection against external aggression. 1971New Scientist 11 Feb. 331/2 The Hell's Angels created rather than prevented disorder when Mick and the Stones were dispensing their magic.
1927Observer 21 Aug. 15/2 *Hell-ships they must be if three and four months' passages..is anything from which to form an opinion. 1934Times Lit. Suppl. 18 Oct. 713/2 The Dovenby Hall, a notorious hell-ship in her day. 1971D. Niven Moon's a Balloon (1972) vii. 93 The troopship was a hell-ship of about 11,000 tons.
1584R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. vii. xv. (1886) 122 They have so fraied us with bull beggers..the man in the oke, the *hell waine, the fier drake..and such other bugs, that we are afraid of our own shadowes.
c1000ælfric Hom. II. 362 Ealle ᵹesceafta, heofonwara, eorðwara, *helwara, onbuᵹað..ðam Hælendum Criste. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 53 Biforen alle heueneware and herðeware, and ec helleware.
▸ orig. N. Amer. colloq.—— from hell: (with neutral or positive meaning) a particularly impressive or formidable example or instance of——; (also with negative force) an exceptionally unpleasant or bad example or instance of——.
1902L. McKee Land of Nome 178, I felt that I had received a very high compliment..when an old-timer in the party..told me that I was a ‘musher from hell’. 1965W. King in Liberator Aug. 22 Mac's copping me a number [sc. a marijuana cigarette] from hell for a nickel! 1987G. Larson Far Side Observer 7/1 (caption) If we could get this baby runnin', we could run over hikers, pick up females, chase down deer—man, we'd be the grizzlies from hell. 1994Sugar Nov. 81/1 She returned from trawling the junk shops with the Curtains from Hell—dark purple and green tie-dyed horrors that soaked up more daylight. 2001Independent 13 Aug. 6/1 Council tenants who racially harass asylum-seekers will face fast-track eviction under government plans to combat so-called neighbours from hell.
▸ to go to (also through) hell and back (again) and variants: to endure a highly distressing experience; to go through a very difficult time, sometimes with the implication of having survived the experience (relatively) unscathed. Cf. to hell and back (again) at Phrases 4f.
1863Ladies' Repository June 325/2 When accosted he affirmed that the horses had broken out, and that if they broke out again he would dog them to hell and back again. 1899W. L. Sawyer Local Habitation xii. 200, I can tell you how to achieve a great novel... Go through hell and back again, and write the story in your own heart's blood. 1902R. H. Davis Ranson's Folly 202 He had been to hell and back again in twenty minutes. 1963I. Howe World more Attractive 100 He..had been to hell and back, many times over. 1989M. Richler Solomon Gursky was Here (1990) v. 164 Nick and I have been through hell and back again together. Sweeping Normandy clean of Nazi punks. 2006Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 21 May 31 She has..been to hell and back with drink, drugs and turbulent relationships.
▪ II. hell, v.1 Obs. exc. dial.
[A by-form of ME. held, hield v.: cf. heel from hield; prob. immediately a. ON. hella, Sw. hälle, Da. hælde, to pour, cognate with hield v.]
To pour. trans. and intr.
a1340Hampole Psalter Prol. 3 Þai drope swetnes in mannys saule and hellis delite in þaire thoghtis. Ibid. xxi. 13 As water .i. am helt. Ibid. lxviii. 29 Hell on þaim þi wreth. a1400–50Alexander 3813 As all þe watir of þe werd ware in þaire wambs hellid. 1483Cath. Angl. 182/1 To Helle in, jnfundere..To Helle oute, fundere, effundere. 1821Harvest 17 in Borrowdale Let. 9 Gash the sickle went into me hand: Down hell'd the bluid. 1828Craven Dial., Helle, to pour out. [So in Northumberland, Lonsdale, Swaledale Glossaries.]
▪ III. † hell, v.2 nonce-wd.
[f. hell n.]
In various, chiefly slang, uses: a. trans. To place in or as in hell, to cause to have their hell. b. To make into a hell. c. To give (a person) hell. d. To hurry, to go ‘hell for leather’, to ‘fly’ around (esp. in some activity disapproved of by the speaker).
a1650T. Adams Pract. Wks. (1861) I. 231 (D.) The dead in sin are hell'd here by the tormenting anguish of an unappeasable conscience. 1897O. Wister Lin McLean (1898) 60 A man was liable to go sporting and helling around till he waked up. 1903P. F. Rowland New Nation 34 The raging bush⁓fires that hell the Australian plains. 1924Kipling Debits & Credits (1926) 242 That's not his real trouble... I wonder what's really helling him. 1928J. P. McEvoy Show Girl 166 You were in the show business and throwing your best years away helling around. 1929W. Faulkner Sound & Fury 243 She had to come helling in there at twelve, worrying me about that letter. 1929― Sartoris (1933) ii. 53 Men can't stand anything... Can't even stand helling around with no worry. 1959E. Fenwick Long Way Down x. 83 Had his supper..just like he always did. I missed mine, helling up here this way. 1960F. Sullivan Let. 9 Jan. in Groucho Lett. (1967) 147 That oppressed and downtrodden share-cropper, Massa Nunnally Johnson, is hellin' around with Ava Gardner, making a picture. 1969‘E. Lathen’ Come to Dust xvii. 172 ‘If he did any helling around, it wasn't here,’ the janitor continued.
▪ IV. hell, v.3
[a. Ger. hellen in same sense (see Grimm), f. hell clear.]
trans. To add lustre to, to burnish (gold or silver).
1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 99 To Hell Gold, or Gilt Work. Take two ounces of tartar, two ounces of sulphur..and it will give it a fine lustre. Ibid. 91 Unwrought gold and silver..undergo several operations, and are heightened by gilding wax, colouring and helling.
▪ V. hell
obs. form of hele v.2, to conceal, cover. |