hell
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Alternative spellings
- (Christianity): Hell
[edit] Etymology
Old English hel, helle (“‘nether world, abode of the dead’”) < Proto-Germanic *khaljo (“‘nether world, concealed place’”) < Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“‘to cover, conceal, save’”). Cognate with the "Hel" of Germanic mythology.
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Proper noun
|
Singular |
Plural |
hell
- In various religions, the place where some or all spirits are believed to go after death.
- (Christianity, uncountable) The place where devils live and where sinners are punished after death.
- May you rot in hell!
- 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost
- Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.
- 1916, James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
- Hell is a strait and dark and foul-smelling prison, an abode of demons and lost souls, filled with fire and smoke.
[edit] Synonyms
- (euphemisms for Christian place for damned souls after death): Hades, heck, infernal region, inferno, netherworld, underworld
[edit] Antonyms
- (Christianity, uncountable): heaven
[edit] Translations
where sinners go
|
|
[edit] Noun
|
Singular |
Plural |
hell (plural hells)
- (countable) A place or situation of great suffering in life.
- My new boss is making my job a 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.
- (countable) A place for gambling.
- 1907, Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent
- ... the air of moral nihilism common to keepers of gambling hells and disorderly houses; ...
- 1907, Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent
- An extremely hot place.
- You don't have a snowball's chance in hell.
- Used as an intensifier in phrases grammatically requiring a noun.
- I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more.
- What the hell is wrong with you?
- He says he's going home early? Like hell he is.
[edit] Derived terms
Related terms
[edit] Translations
place of suffering in life
|
|
[edit] Interjection
hell
- (not polite) Used to express negative discontent.
- Oh, hell! I got another parking ticket.
- (not polite) Used to emphasize.
- Hell, yeah!
[edit] See also
[edit] Albanian
[edit] Noun
hell m.
[edit] Estonian
[edit] Adjective
hell
[edit] German
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Adjective
hell (comparative heller, superlative hellest)
[edit] Old English
[edit] Etymology
Proto-Germanic *haljo
Compare to halo, an effect of light, and hell, German for "light".
[edit] Noun
hell f.
Categories: Old English derivations | Proto-Germanic derivations | Proto-Indo-European derivations | English proper nouns | Christianity | English uncountable nouns | English nouns | English countable nouns | English interjections | Death | English swear words | Albanian nouns | Estonian adjectives | German adjectives | ang:Proto-Germanic derivations | Old English nouns