hellhound
See also: hell-hound and hell hound
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English helle hound; equivalent to hell + hound.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /hɛl.haʊnd/
Noun
hellhound (plural hellhounds)
- (mythology) A demonic dog of hell, typically of unnatural size, strength or speed, with black fur, glowing eyes, and ghostly or phantom characteristics.
- Synonym: hound of hell
- c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 195, column 2:
- From forth the kennell of thy wombe hath crept / A Hell-hound that doth hunt vs all to death:
- 1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter X, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book VII (The Insurrection of Women):
- Barricading serves not: fly fast, ye Bodyguards; rabid Insurrection, like the hellhound Chase, uproaring at your heels!
- (figurative) An evil or otherwise unpleasant person.
- Synonym: hound of hell
Translations
dog of hell
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