# hell

Pronunciation: say "HEL" /hɛl/

## Proper noun

1. In many religions, the place of torment where some or all sinners are believed to go after death and where evil spirits are believed to dwell.
   - Simple: In many religions, a place of great pain where evil spirits live and bad people may go after death.
   - _The preacher warned that unrepentant sinners would spend eternity in hell._
   - _In the old painting, demons drag the damned down into hell while angels look on from above._

## Noun

2. An intensifier inserted into questions and exclamations that grammatically call for a noun, adding force or exasperation.
   - Simple: An empty word added to questions and phrases to show strong feeling.
   - _Where the hell did I leave my keys?_
   - _Get the hell out of my kitchen right now._
3. A place or situation of intense and prolonged suffering, such as misery, fear or unbearable heat.
   - Simple: A very unpleasant place or situation where you suffer a lot.
   - _The refugees endured a hell of hunger and fear in the camps._
   - _Recovering from the accident was sheer hell._
7. Severe pain, harm, or trouble inflicted on someone or something. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Great pain or trouble caused to someone or something.
   - _The new policy played hell with the department's morale._
   - _Years of heavy lifting gave his back hell._
10. In certain games of chase, the place where those who are caught are taken and held.
   - Simple: In some chasing games, the spot where caught players must wait.
11. A place where gambling is carried on.
   - Simple: A place where people go to gamble, often a shady or hidden one.
   - _By midnight, the gaming hell in St. James's was crowded with young gentlemen playing hazard._
   - _She inherited a fortune and lost most of it in a fashionable hell._

## Adverb

4. A variant of the hell or like hell, mainly British, placed after an auxiliary verb and its subject to deny something scornfully: 'Did he hell.' *(colloquial)* — Alternative form of the hell or like hell.
   - Simple: Same as the hell or like hell. In British speech, after a verb and its subject, it means 'certainly not'.
   - _He promised to pay me back by Friday. Did he hell, and I'm still waiting._
   - _"Surely she'll apologize now." "Will she hell. She never admits she was wrong."_
6. Very; extremely, used to intensify an adjective or adverb. *(colloquial, Australia, New Zealand)*
   - Simple: Used before a word to mean 'very' or 'extremely.'
   - _The new place is hell expensive but worth every penny._
   - _She drove hell fast down the empty highway._

## Interjection

5. An exclamation used to express anger, frustration or surprise, or to add emphasis, often to make a statement stronger than the one before. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A rude word people say when they are angry or surprised, or to make what they say stronger.
   - _Hell, that climb was steeper than anything we'd ever attempted._
   - _Are we ready to win this? Hell, yes._

## Verb

8. To move very fast and recklessly, often noisily. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To go very fast and wildly, often making a lot of noise.
   - _Teenagers hell up and down this road on dirt bikes every weekend._
   - _She came helling down the driveway on her motorcycle._
14. To pour out a quantity of liquid, often tipping it out vigorously. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: To pour a liquid out, often roughly or all at once.

## Verb

9. To make a place hellish, or to cast a person into hell. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To make a place terrible, like hell, or to send a person to hell.
13. To add luster to metal; to burnish silver or gold to a shine. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To polish silver or gold so that it shines brightly.

## Noun

12. The receptacle into which a tailor throws fabric scraps, or a printer discards broken type. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A scrap box where a tailor throws cloth bits or a printer throws broken metal letters.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–12** — From Middle English helle, from Old English hell, going back to Proto-Germanic *haljō ("concealed place, netherworld") and the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱel- ("to cover, conceal"). It is related to Dutch hel, German Hölle, and the Hel of Germanic mythology.
**Meaning 13** — The German verb hellen, "to brighten, burnish," is the source. It is related to the adjectives hel in Dutch and hell in German, both meaning "clear, bright."
**Meaning 14** — Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- ("to lean, incline") lies behind Proto-Germanic *halþijaną, meaning "to incline, tip, pour out," which gave Old Norse hella ("to pour") and then Middle English hellen. Icelandic hella, Norwegian helle, and Swedish hälla, which all mean "to pour," are cognates.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/hell (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).