Sheoln.
/ˈʃiːəʊl/, /ˈʃiːɒl/, /ˈʃiːəl/, U.S. /ˈʃiˌɔl/, /ˈʃiˌoʊl/ The underworld; the abode of the dead or departed spirits, conceived by the Hebrews as a subterranean region clothed in thick darkness, return from which is impossible. (Very common in the Revised Version of the Old Testament, where in the King James Bible it was translated ‘hell’, ‘grave’, or ‘pit’.) ⁋In recent slang sometimes jocularly substituted for ‘hell’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > hell > [noun]
helleOE
hellOE
perditiona1382
perishingc1384
welling woea1400
hellwardc1400
Topheta1425
gehenne1481
to devilwardc1550
limbo1581
Averna1592
Hades1597
Sheol1599
other place1604
underworld1608
infernals1613
gehenna1623
lower world1639
netherworld1640
pandemonium1667
subterrenea1711
diablerie1776
inferno1834
ballyhooly1837
nether region1839
Sam Hill1839
Ballyhack1843
tunket1871
bogydom1880
1599 Master Broughtons Lett. Answered xiii. 45 Sheol, at the best, either is not Heauen,..or else there is a third place besides Heauen and Hell called Sheol for the Saints to rest in.
1642 Of Article of Creed ‘Christ descended to Hades’ 2 Christs soule did descendere ad Inferos, or goe to Sheol or Hades.
1822 R. Scott Script. Claims of Devil 499 We cannot..interpret the term Sheol, as referring to a Hell of eternal torments.
1873 F. C. Cook in Speaker's Comm. IV. 63/1 Nor is the state of the just in Sheol ever represented as one of suffering.
1889 ‘M. Twain’ Connecticut Yankee xxxiii. 421 'Rah for protection—to Sheol with free-trade!
1890 J. Fyfe (title) The Hereafter: Sheol, Hades, and Hell.
1903 A. M. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise v. 117 Briefly, Dickie, I have been out all night and there's sheol to pay.
1920 B. Cronin Timber Wolves vii. 116 Them big bugs are the meanest things this side sheol.
Derivatives
ˈSheol-like adj.
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1910 J. Orr in Expositor Nov. 398 Ghostly survival in some Sheol-like condition of semi-existence.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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