hellhoundn.
/ˈhɛlhaʊnd/, U.S. /ˈhɛlˌ(h)aʊnd/ 1. A hound or dog of hell; a demon in the form of a dog; (Classical Mythology) Cerberus, the watchdog of Hades. Also: a dog likened to a hellhound. Also figurative.Cf. the hound of hell at hound n.1 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > wickedness > [noun] > wicked creature
hellhoundOE
wolf?1554
devil dog1642
hellicat1816
shaitan1834
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) xxxv. 102 Ða sceolde cuman ðære helle hund ongean hine, þæs nama wæs Cerueruerus [read Ceruerus].]
OE Royal Charter: Æðelred II to Christ Church, Canterbury (Sawyer 914) in J. M. Kemble Codex Diplomaticus (1845) III. 350 Gyf ðonne hwylc yfel man of deofle onæled sy ðæt he ðisne minne sunderfreols gewanige oððe gelytlige,..sy he toren of hellehundes toðum on ðam egeslicum hellewitum.
c1225 (?c1200) St. Margaret (Bodl.) (1934) 16 [H] elle-hundes, lauerd, habbet bitrummet me.
c1450 (c1350) Alexander & Dindimus (Bodl.) (1929) l. 792 Ȝe ben to þe helle-hond holliche i-like, Tri-cerberus þe tenful of wham i tolde haue.
c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 167 Þe helle-huntere, wyth his helle-houndys, com ny.
1513 Doug. vi. iv. 44 Amang the schaddowys..the hell hundis [v.r. houndis] hard thai ȝowl and bark.
1576 G. Pettie Petite Pallace 152 There is none that more torments vs, then that hatefull helhounde Ielousy.
1592 A. Fraunce 3rd Pt. Countesse of Pembrokes Yuychurch f. 18 v Face for a diu'ls good grace, & countnance fit for a hell-hound.
1612 J. Smith Map of Virginia 27 They gaue such horrible shouts and screeches, as though so many infernall helhounds could not haue made them more terrible.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 630 My Hell-hounds, to lick up the draff and filth Which mans polluting Sin with taint hath shed On what was pure. View more context for this quotation
1681 H. More Plain Expos. Daniel vi. 227 Those horrid Hell-hounds with whom they are to be sentenced to everlasting fire.
1734 W. Stukeley Of Gout ii. 66 Lucian not improperly compares the pain of the gout to the gnawings of the hell-hound Cerberus.
1767 C. Smart tr. Horace Odes iii. xi, in tr. Horace Wks. (new ed.) I. 275 Th' enormous hell-hound heard, and smil'd, You play'd your lute so well.
1791 E. Burke Let. to Member Nat. Assembly in Wks. VI. 43 The hell-hounds of war, on all sides, will be uncoupled and unmuzzled.
1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound i. i. 39 But hark, the hell-hounds clamour.
1885 Jrnl. Hellenic Stud. 6 309 The enthroned god, derived from the Greek Hades, and accompanied by the hell-hound.
1914 ‘M. Field’ Dedicated i. 26 The hell-hound licked my hand as if for honey.
1991 Washington Post (Nexis) 11 Sept. g1 Trouble looks for Tyson as much as Tyson looks for trouble. He's had hellhounds on his trail since birth.
2002 New Amer. 28 Jan. 38/3 Hogwarts..is a grim and frightening place, harboring poltergeists, menacing ghosts,..three-headed hellhounds, [etc.].
2. A person likened to a hellhound, a fiend; a bad or evil person.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > hellishness > [noun] > person
hellhoundc1340
hell-kitea1616
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > unkindness > ill will, malevolence > [noun] > person or thing displaying
devilOE
hatelc1175
fiendc1220
hellhoundc1340
foea1393
atterlingc1450
basilisk1477
ill-willerc1500
attercop1508
malign1536
ettercapa1583
demon1591
viper1596
dragon1600
ill-wisher1607
malevolent1609
malevolo1648
c1340 Hampole's Wks. (1895) I. 85 Helle-houndys crowned with thornys.
a1500 St. Katherine (Cambr. Ff.2.38) l. 231 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1881) 2nd. Ser. 262 Thou false, cursyde sarasyne..Helle hounde, þou fowle wyghte.
a1529 J. Skelton Phyllyp Sparowe (?1545) sig. A.iiiv For that hell hounde That lyeth in cheynes bounde.
1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 446/1 Neither Luther, Tyndal, nor Huskin, nor all ye hel houndes that ye deuyl hath in hys kenell.
1633 T. Stafford Pacata Hibernia i. ii. 22 Tyrone with his Hell-hounds being not farre from Corke.
1691 J. Cockburn Contin. Hist. Relation Late Gen. Assembly Scotl. 57 They dragg'd him in his Shirt to the Gate, abusing him with most opprobrious Language, as Hell-Hound, Soul-murdering Dog, &c.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 533. ⁋2 I am sure these shameless hell-hounds deserved it highly.
1795 E. Burke Fourth Let. Peace Regicide Directory in Writings & Speeches (1991) IX. 75 Thousands of those Hell-hounds called Terrorists..are let loose on the people.
1816 B. Waterhouse Jrnl. in Mag. Hist. (1911) 18 x. 351 If they did not accompany it all with peals of laughter, and in the spirit of fun, I should put them down as a set of hell-hounds.
1879 R. Browning Ivan Ivanovitch in Idyls I. 208 Hellhounds, we baulk you!
1890 A. Conan Doyle Sign of Four xi. 208 It was that little hell-hound Tonga who shot one of his cursed darts into him.
1926 Amer. Mercury Apr. 443/1 All the fears and hatreds that the evangelical hell-hounds had been instilling in the faithful for so long.
1961 P. G. Wodehouse Service with Smile (1962) ii. 25 The course of true love hasn't been running too smooth. Hell-hounds have been bunging spanners into it.
2007 Daily News (New York) (Nexis) 21 Jan. 21 Uncle Max was—or is, if he's still alive—a hellhound of international crime.
Compounds
General attributive.
ΚΠ
1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 236 Villainous Hell hound Dogs.
1790 By-stander 46 Of the hell-hound breed.
1811 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. 32 117 To account and apologise for the hell-hound-hearted mangling fury.
1860 D. P. Thompson Doomed Chief xi. 208 The whole Indian army must be concentrated around Mount Hope, the home of their hell hound leader.
?1913 J. M. Harper Taking & Re-taking of Fort George in Ann. of War 116 Give way, you demons! Are you mad, such orders to obey? Is your hell-hound rage of a she-wolf born?
2004 Seattle Weekly (Nexis) 31 Mar. 83 Some unkillable hellhound creatures with Rastafarian hair and faces like beetles.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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