hell or high water

1. 1. often Hell The abode of condemned souls and devils in some religions; the place of eternal punishment for the wicked after death, presided over by Satan.

   2. A state of separation from God; exclusion from God's presence.

   3. A situation or place of evil, misery, discord, or destruction: "War is hell" (William Tecumseh Sherman).

   4. Torment; anguish: went through hell on the job.

   5. The powers of darkness and evil.

   6. Informal One that causes trouble, agony, or annoyance: The boss is hell when a job is poorly done.

   7. A tailor's receptacle for discarded material.

   8. Printing A hellbox.

2. The abode of the dead, identified with the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades; the underworld.

3. 1. A situation or place of evil, misery, discord, or destruction: "War is hell" (William Tecumseh Sherman).

   2. Torment; anguish: went through hell on the job.

   3. The powers of darkness and evil.

   4. Informal One that causes trouble, agony, or annoyance: The boss is hell when a job is poorly done.

   5. A tailor's receptacle for discarded material.

   6. Printing A hellbox.

4. 1. The powers of darkness and evil.

   2. Informal One that causes trouble, agony, or annoyance: The boss is hell when a job is poorly done.

   3. A tailor's receptacle for discarded material.

   4. Printing A hellbox.

5. A sharp scolding: gave the student hell for cheating.

6. Informal Excitement, mischievousness, or high spirits: We did it for the sheer hell of it.

7. 1. A tailor's receptacle for discarded material.

   2. Printing A hellbox.

8. Informal Used as an intensive: How the hell can I go? You did one hell of a job.

9. Archaic A gambling house.

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.