hell
proper nounnouninterjectionadverbverbverbverbtop 1 000 in film dialogue
- //hɛl//
A place of torment where some or all sinners are believed to go after death and evil spirits are believed to be.
proper noun
- 1
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.
Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.
Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, / Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman ſcorn'd.
Etymology
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, hide”), Irish ceil (“to conceal, hide; to cover up”), Welsh celu (“to conceal, hide”), Faliscan 𐌂𐌄𐌋𐌀 (cela, “tomb”), Latin cella (“hut, storeroom; barn, granary”), Greek κολεός (koleós, “vagina; sheath; scabbard; coleus”), Lithuanian šalmas (“helmet”), Belarusian шало́м (šalóm, “helmet”), Bulgarian and Macedonian шлем (šlem, “helmet”), Old Polish szłom (“helmet”), Russian шело́м (šelóm), шлем (šlem, “helmet”), Serbo-Croatian шле̏м, шље̏м, šlȅm, šljȅm (“helmet”), Ukrainian шолом (šolom, “helmet”), Sanskrit शर्मन् (śarman, “safety, shelter; house; bliss, happiness, joy”). Also related to the Hel of Germanic mythology. See also hele.
noun
- 1
figurativeA 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
1879, General William T. Sherman, commencement address at the Michigan Military Academy There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.
- 2
A place for gambling.
Here’s five-and-twenty for you. Don’t be losing it at the hells now.
a convenient little gambling hell for those who had grown reckless
There's light behind here—a hole through the wall. I believe the place is a regular swindling hell.
But there was also about him an indescribable air which no mechanic could have acquired in the practice of his handicraft however dishonestly exercised: […] the air of moral nihilism common to keepers of gambling hells and disorderly houses; […]
- 3
figurativeAn extremely hot place.
You don’t have a snowball's chance in hell.
when hell freezes over
- 4
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.
I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.
What the hell is wrong with you?!
He says he’s going home early? Like hell he is.
- 5
obsoleteA 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.
- 6
In certain games of chase, a place to which those who are caught are carried for detention.
- 7
Something extremely painful or harmful (to)
That steep staircase is hell on my knees.
interjection
- 1
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! […]
- 2
Used to emphasize.
Hell yeah!
- 3
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!
adverb
- 1
Very; used to emphasize strongly.
That was hell good!
They're hell sexy.
- 2
Variant of the hell or like hellAlternative form of the hell or like hell.
- Oh, aren't they sweet?
‘[…] I know whether a boy is telling me the truth or not.’ ‘Thank you, sir.’ Did he hell. They never bloody did.
verb
- 1
To make hellish; to place (someone) in hell; to make (a place) into a hell.
- 2
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.
- 3
To move quickly and loudly; to raise hell as part of motion.
He was helling down the road with his radio blaring.
verb
- 1
rareTo 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.
Etymology
From German hellen (“to brighten, burnish”). Related to Dutch hel (“clear, bright”) and German hell (“clear, bright”).
verb
- 1
rareTo pour.
18th century, Josiah Relph, The Harvest; or Bashful Shepherd Gosh, the sickle went into me handː Down hell'd the bluid.
Etymology
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.
Forms
- plural
- hells
- past tense
- helled
- past participle
- helled
- present participle
- helling
- third person singular
- hells
hell · A place of torment where some or all sinners are believed to go after death and evil spirits are believed to be.
Hell · Any of various places so named. A village in Stjørdal…heller · A subdivision of the Czech, Slovakian and Czechoslovakian…Heller · A surname.