[hel] 
| 1. | the place or state of punishment of the wicked after death; the abode of evil and condemned spirits; Gehenna or Tartarus. |
| 2. | any place or state of torment or misery: They made their father's life a hell on earth. |
| 3. | something that causes torment or misery: Having that cut stitched without anesthesia was hell. |
| 4. | the powers of evil. |
| 5. | the abode of the dead; Sheol or Hades. |
| 6. | extreme disorder or confusion; chaos: The children let both dogs into the house, and all hell broke loose. |
| 7. | heck 1 (def. 2). |
| 8. | a receptacle into which a tailor throws scraps. |
| 9. | Also called hellbox. Printing. a box into which a printer throws discarded type. |
| 10. | the utterance of “hell” in swearing or for emphasis. |
| 11. | the hell, Informal.
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| 12. | (used to express surprise, irritation, disgust, etc.) |
| 13. | hell around, Slang. to live or act in a wild or dissolute manner: All they cared about was drinking and helling around. |
| 14. | be hell on, Slang.
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| 15. | for the hell of it, Informal.
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| 16. | get or catch hell, Slang. to suffer a scolding; receive a harsh reprimand: We'll get hell from our parents for staying out so late again. |
| 17. | give someone hell, Informal. to reprimand or reproach severely. |
| 18. | go to hell in a handbasket. Informal. handbasket (def. 2). |
| 19. | hell on wheels, Slang. extremely demanding, fast-paced, aggressive, effective, or the like: The new job is hell on wheels. Our sales staff is hell on wheels when it comes to getting the most out of every account. |
| 20. | like hell, Informal.
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| 21. | play hell with, Slang. to deal recklessly with; bring injury or harm to: Snowstorms played hell with the flow of city traffic. |
| 22. | raise hell, Slang.
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| 23. | the or to hell with, Informal. (used to express dismissal, rejection, contempt, disappointment, or the like): If we have to walk five miles to see the view, the hell with it! He wouldn't even speak to me, so to hell with him! |
| 24. | what the hell, Informal. (used to express lack of concern or worry, indifference, abandonment, surrender, etc.): As long as you're borrowing $100, what the hell, borrow $200. |
| hell (hěl) n.
To behave riotously; carouse: out all night helling around. interj. Used to express anger, disgust, or impatience. [Middle English helle, from Old English; see kel-1 in Indo-European roots.] Word History: Hell comes to us directly from Old English hel. Because the Roman Church prevailed in England from an early date, the Roman—that is, Mediterranean—belief that hell was hot prevailed there too; in Old English hel is a black and fiery place of eternal torment for the damned. But because the Vikings were converted to Christianity centuries after the Anglo-Saxons, the Old Norse hel, from the same source as Old English hel, retained its earlier pagan senses as both a place and a person. As a place, hel is the abode of oathbreakers, other evil persons, and those unlucky enough not to have died in battle. It contrasts sharply with Valhalla, the hall of slain heroes. Unlike the Mediterranean hell, the Old Norse hel is very cold. Hel is also the name of the goddess or giantess who presides in hel, the half blue-black, half white daughter of Loki and the giantess Angrbotha. The Indo-European root behind these Germanic words is *kel-, "to cover, conceal" (so hell is the "concealed place"); it also gives us hall, hole, hollow, and helmet. |
hell
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Hell
derived from the Saxon helan, to cover; hence the covered or the invisible place. In Scripture there are three words so rendered: (1.) Sheol, occurring in the Old Testament sixty-five times. This word sheol is derived from a root-word meaning "to ask," "demand;" hence insatiableness (Prov. 30:15, 16). It is rendered "grave" thirty-one times (Gen. 37:35; 42:38; 44:29, 31; 1 Sam. 2:6, etc.). The Revisers have retained this rendering in the historical books with the original word in the margin, while in the poetical books they have reversed this rule. In thirty-one cases in the Authorized Version this word is rendered "hell," the place of disembodied spirits. The inhabitants of sheol are "the congregation of the dead" (Prov. 21:16). It is (a) the abode of the wicked (Num. 16:33; Job 24:19; Ps. 9:17; 31:17, etc.); (b) of the good (Ps. 16:10; 30:3; 49:15; 86:13, etc.). Sheol is described as deep (Job 11:8), dark (10:21, 22), with bars (17:16). The dead "go down" to it (Num. 16:30, 33; Ezek. 31:15, 16, 17). (2.) The Greek word hades of the New Testament has the same scope of signification as sheol of the Old Testament. It is a prison (1 Pet. 3:19), with gates and bars and locks (Matt. 16:18; Rev. 1:18), and it is downward (Matt. 11:23; Luke 10:15). The righteous and the wicked are separated. The blessed dead are in that part of hades called paradise (Luke 23:43). They are also said to be in Abraham's bosom (Luke 16:22). (3.) Gehenna, in most of its occurrences in the Greek New Testament, designates the place of the lost (Matt. 23:33). The fearful nature of their condition there is described in various figurative expressions (Matt. 8:12; 13:42; 22:13; 25:30; Luke 16:24, etc.). (See HINNOM.)
hell
In addition to the idioms beginning with hell, also see (all hell) break loose; devil (hell) of a; for the hell of it; give someone hell; go to hell; hot as hell; like a bat out of hell; like hell; mad as a hornet (hell); not a hope in hell; raise Cain (hell); road to hell is paved with good intentions; shot to hell; snowball's chance in hell; till hell freezes over; to hell and gone; to hell with; what the hell.
