HELL


Meaning of HELL in English

■ noun

1》 (often Hell ) a place regarded in various religions as a spiritual realm of evil and suffering, often depicted as a place of perpetual fire beneath the earth to which the wicked are consigned after death.

2》 a state or place of great suffering.

■ exclamation used to express annoyance or surprise or for emphasis.

Phrases

all ~ breaks (or is let ) loose informal suddenly there is pandemonium.

come ~ or high water whatever difficulties may occur.

for the ~ of it informal just for fun.

get ~ informal be severely reprimanded.

give someone ~ informal severely reprimand or make things very unpleasant for someone.

go to ~ in a handbasket (or handcart ) N. Amer. informal deteriorate rapidly.

~ for leather informal as fast as possible.

a (or one ) ~ of a —— informal used to emphasize something very bad or great.

~'s bells informal an exclamation of annoyance or anger.

~'s half acre N. Amer. a great distance.

like ~ informal

1》 very fast, much, hard, etc.

2》 used in ironic expressions of scorn or disagreement.

not a hope in ~ informal no chance at all.

play ~ (or merry ~ ) Brit. informal create havoc or cause damage.

there will be ~ to pay informal serious trouble will result.

until ~ freezes over forever.

Derivatives

~ward adverb & adjective

Origin

OE hel , ~ , of Gmc origin.

Concise Oxford English vocab.      Сжатый оксфордский словарь английского языка.