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hell

Pronunciation: /hɛl/

The English word “hell” has 17 meanings listed here.

proper noun

  1. A place of torment where some or all sinners are believed to go after death and evil spirits are believed to be.

noun

  1. A place or situation of great suffering in life.
  2. A place for gambling.
  3. An extremely hot place.
  4. Used as an intensifier in phrases grammatically requiring a noun.
  5. A place into which a tailor throws shreds, or a printer discards broken type.
  6. In certain games of chase, a place to which those who are caught are carried for detention.
  7. Something extremely painful or harmful (to)

interjection

  1. Used to express discontent, unhappiness, or anger.
  2. Used to emphasize.
  3. Used to introduce an intensified statement following an understated one; nay; not only that, but.

adverb

  1. Very; used to emphasize strongly.

verb

  1. To make hellish; to place (someone) in hell; to make (a place) into a hell.
  2. To hurry, rush.
  3. To move quickly and loudly; to raise hell as part of motion.
  4. To add luster to; to burnish (silver or gold).
  5. To pour.

Etymology

From Middle English hel, hell, helle, hælle, from Old English hel, hell, from Proto-West Germanic *hallju, from Proto-Germanic *haljō (“hell, netherworld”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover”). First attested in c. 725. Cognates Cognate with Yola helle (“hell”), Saterland Frisian Hälle (“hell”), West Frisian hel (“hell”), Alemannic German Hell (“hell”), Cimbrian hélla (“hell”), Dutch hel…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.