1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 96. Tho' hell's broke loose, and the Devils roar abroad.
Hell of a (lark, goer, row, and so forth), adj. phr. (common).—Very much of a ; a popular intensitive.
All to hell (or gone to hell), adj. phr. (colloquial).—Utterly ruined.
To hope (or wish) to hell, verb. phr. (common).—To desire intensely.
1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 229. I hope to h the horse will break his neck and his rider's too.
To play (or kick up) hell and tommy, verb. phr. (common).—To ruin utterly. Also, To play hell and break things; to raise hell; to make hell's delight.
1837-40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 287 (Ed. 1862). And in the mean time rob 'em, plunder 'em, and tax em; hang their priests, seize their galls, and play hell and tommy with them, and all because they speak French.
1859. De Quincey, Wks. (14 vol., ed. vi., 336). About a hundred years earlier Lord Bacon played h- and tommy when casually raised to the supreme seat in the Council by the brief absence in Edinburgh of the King and the Duke of Buckingham.
1867. Lahore Chronicle, 20 May. The Sepoys are burning down the houses, and playing h and tommy with the station.
1879. Justin M'Carthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xxxii. We'll have a fine bit of fun, I tell you. I've played hell-and-tommy already with the lot of them.
To lead apes in hell, verb. phr. (old).—To die an old maid. [From a popular superstition.]
1599. Henry Porter, The Two Angry Women of Abingdon. (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 294-5). For women that are wise will not lead apes in hell. . . . Therefore, come husband: maidenhead adieu.
1600. Shakspeare, Much Ado about Nothing, ii., 1. He that is more than youth is not for me, and he that is less than man I am not for him; therefore I will . . . even lead his apes into hell.
1605. London Prodigal, ii. But 'tis an old proverb, and you know it well, that women, dying maids, lead apes in hell.
1611. Chapman, May-day, v. 2. I am beholden to her; she was loth to have me lead apes in hell.
1659. The London Chanticleers, i., 2. I'll always live a virgin! What! and lead apes in hell?
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 179. Celladon at that began To talk of apes in hell.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, 'Bloudie Jacke.' They say she is now leading apes . . . And mends Bachelors' small clothes below.
To put the devil into hell, verb. phr. (old).—To copulate.—Boccaccio. [Hell = female pudendum.] For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.
To give hell, verb. phr. (common).—To trounce; abuse; or punish severely. Also (American), to make one smell hell (or a damn particular smell).
Hell-for-leather, adv. phr. (common).—With the utmost energy and desperation.
1892. R. Kipling, Barrack Room Ballads. When we rode hell-for-leather, Both squadrons together, Not caring much whether we lived or we died.
Like hell, adv. phr. (common).—Desperately; with all one's might.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxix. I tried every place, everything; went to Ems, to Wiesbaden, to Hombourg, and played like hell.
Go to hell! phr. (Common)—An emphatic dismissal: the full phrase is, 'Go to hell and help the devil to make your mother into a bitch pie.' [A variant is,
