hell
Alternative form of the hell or like hell.
Adverb
- Alternative form of the hell or like hell.
- - Oh, aren't they sweet? - 1990, Mama's Family (television sitcom), "Look Who's Breathing" (season 6, episode 18)
- ‘[…] I know whether a boy is telling me the truth or not.’ ‘Thank you, sir.’ Did he hell. They never bloody did. - 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section II, page 24:
- Very; used to emphasize strongly.
- That was hell good!
- They're hell sexy.
Synonyms: hella
Origin
From Middle English hel, hell, helle, hælle, from Old English hel, hell, from Proto-West Germanic *hallju, from Proto-Germanic *haljō (“hell, netherworld”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover”). First attested in c. 725. Cognates Cognate with Yola helle (“hell”), Saterland Frisian Hälle (“hell”), West Frisian hel (“hell”), Alemannic German Hell (“hell”), Cimbrian hélla (“hell”), Dutch hel (“hell”), German Hölle (“hell”), Limburgish hel, Héll, Höll (“hell”), Luxembourgish Häll (“hell”), Vilamovian heł, hełł (“hell”), Danish helvede (“hell”), ihjel (“to death”), Faroese helviti (“hell”), Icelandic hel (“death, hell”), helvíti (“hell”), Norwegian Nynorsk hel (“death, underworld”), helvete (“hell”), Swedish helvete (“hell”), ihjäl (“to death”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌰 (halja, “hell”), Estonian koll (“bugbear”), Finnish koljo (“giant; evil spirit; devil”); also Cornish keles (“to conceal,...
Forms
Interjection
- Used to express discontent, unhappiness, or anger.
- Oh, hell! I got another parking ticket.
- O hell! what have we here? A carrion Death, within whose empty eye There is a written scroll! […] - c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies,...
- Used to emphasize.
- Hell yeah!
- Used to introduce an intensified statement following an understated one; nay; not only that, but.
- Do it, or, rest assured, there will be no more Middle Eastern crisis – hell, there will be no more Middle East!
Forms
Related
Derived
hell's bells hell no hells hell yes hell yeah hells yeah oh hell
Proper noun
- A place of torment where some or all sinners are believed to go after death and evil spirits are believed to be.
- May you rot in hell!
- Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 23:14:
- Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. - 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:
Antonyms: heaven
Forms
Synonyms
Noun
- A place or situation of great suffering in life.
- My new boss is making my job a hell.
- I went through hell to get home today.
- callback hell; <table> hell; <div> hell
- A place for gambling.
- Here’s five-and-twenty for you. Don’t be losing it at the hells now. - 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 61, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II),...
- a convenient little gambling hell for those who had grown reckless - 1877, William Black, Green Pastures and Piccadilly:
- There's light behind here—a hole through the wall. I believe the place is a regular swindling hell. - 1923, Ernest Bramah, The Eyes of Max Carrados:
- An extremely hot place.
- You don’t have a snowball's chance in hell.
- when hell freezes over
- Used as an intensifier in phrases grammatically requiring a noun.
- She's got her arms down to her side, defiant. But just for the hell of it, she leans into him, wraps her arms around his neck, puts her head on his shoulder, and hangs on tight. - 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page...
- I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.
- What the hell is wrong with you?!
- A place into which a tailor throws shreds, or a printer discards broken type.
- This sturdy Squire, he had, as well As the bold Trojan Knight, seen Hell. - 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John...
- In certain games of chase, a place to which those who are caught are carried for detention.
- Something extremely painful or harmful (to)
- That steep staircase is hell on my knees.
Forms
Derived
all hell breaks loose as all hell as hell bastard operator from hell behell bleeding hell bloody hell blooming hell bullet hell burn in hell by hell callback hell catch hell cat's chance in hell chicken from hell Chinaman's chance in hell chuffing hell come hell or high water dammit all to hell dammit to hell damn you all to hell dependency hell development hell DLL hell
Verb colloquial, sometimes
- To make hellish; to place (someone) in hell; to make (a place) into a hell.
- To hurry, rush.
- I had already lost thirteen points, all because she had to come helling in there at twelve, worrying me about that letter. - 1929, William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury:
- To move quickly and loudly; to raise hell as part of motion.
- He was helling down the road with his radio blaring.
Forms
Verb colloquial, rare
- To add luster to; to burnish (silver or gold).
- To hell gold or gilt workː take two ounces of tartar, two ounces of sulfur.. and it will give it a fine luster. - 1770, Godfrey Smith, The Laboratory: Or, School of Arts:
Origin
From German hellen (“to brighten, burnish”). Related to Dutch hel (“clear, bright”) and German hell (“clear, bright”).
Forms
Verb colloquial, rare
- To pour.
- 18th century, Josiah Relph, The Harvest; or Bashful Shepherd Gosh, the sickle went into me handː Down hell'd the bluid.
Origin
From Middle English hellen, from Old Norse hella (“to pour”), from Proto-Germanic *halþijaną (“to incline, tip; to pour out, empty”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to lean, incline”). Cognate with Icelandic hella (“to pour”), Norwegian helle (“to pour”), Swedish hälla (“to pour”). See also English hield.