rakehell
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See also: rake-hell
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From to rake (out) hell (“to search through hell thoroughly”), in the sense of a person so evil or immoral that they cannot be found in hell even after an extensive search: see rake (“to search through (thoroughly)”).[1][2] Compare rakeshame.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɹeɪkhɛl/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Adjective
[edit]rakehell (comparative more rakehell, superlative most rakehell)
- (archaic) Immoral; dissolute. [from 16th c.]
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- And farre away, amid their rakehell bands, / They spide a Lady left all succourlesse […].
- 1982, Roy Wilkins, Tom Mathews, Standing Fast: The Autobiography of Roy Wilkins - Volume 10, page 79:
- I knew from the beginning that I would have to move fast to keep Minnie to myself. Kansas City was full of rakehell bachelors, all of whom I had to outcourt.
Synonyms
[edit]Noun
[edit]rakehell (plural rakehells)
- (archaic) A lewd or wanton person; a debauchee; a rake. [from 16th c.]
- a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number). Of Industry in General”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC:
- It seldom doth happen, in any way of life, that a sluggard and a rakehell do not go together.
- 1725, Daniel Defoe, Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business[1]:
- And indeed I believe the insolence of this creature will ruin her master at last, by driving away men of sobriety and business, and making the place a den of vagabonds and rakehells.
- 1826, [Walter Scott], chapter XXXII, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC:
- “It is some freak of that drunken rakehell,” said Albert, in a low voice, to his sister, who had crept out after him on tiptoe.
- c. 1906, Arthur Conan Doyle, Through the Magic Door[2]:
- A fat little bookseller in the City, a rakehell wit of noble blood, and a rugged Scotch surgeon from the navy— […]
References
[edit]- ^ “rakehell, adj. and n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2008; “rakehell, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ^ “to rake (out) hell, phrase” under “rake, v.2”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2008; “rake1, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading
[edit]- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “rakehell”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- [Francis] Grose [et al.] (1811) “RAKE, RAKEHELL, OR RAKESHAME”, in Lexicon Balatronicum. A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence. […], London: […] C. Chappell, […], →OCLC.
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₃reǵ-
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
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- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with archaic senses
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