rakehell

See also: rake-hell

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From to rake (out) hell (“to search through hell thoroughly”), in the sense of a person so evil or immoral that they cannot be found in hell even after an extensive search: see rake (“to search through (thoroughly)”).[1][2] Compare rakeshame.

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɹeɪkhɛl/
    • Audio (Southern England)(file)

Adjective

rakehell (comparative more rakehell, superlative most rakehell)

  1. (archaic) Immoral; dissolute. [from 16th c.]

Synonyms

Noun

rakehell (plural rakehells)

  1. (archaic) A lewd or wanton person; a debauchee; a rake. [from 16th c.]
    • a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number). Of Industry in General”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC:
      It seldom doth happen, in any way of life, that a sluggard and a rakehell do not go together.
    • 1725, Daniel Defoe, Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business‎:
      And indeed I believe the insolence of this creature will ruin her master at last, by driving away men of sobriety and business, and making the place a den of vagabonds and rakehells.
    • 1826, [Walter Scott], chapter XXXII, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC:
      “It is some freak of that drunken rakehell,” said Albert, in a low voice, to his sister, who had crept out after him on tiptoe.
    • c. 1906, Arthur Conan Doyle, Through the Magic Door‎:
      A fat little bookseller in the City, a rakehell wit of noble blood, and a rugged Scotch surgeon from the navy— […]

References
  1. “rakehell, adj. and n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2008; “rakehell, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. “to rake (out) hell, phrase” under “rake, v.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2008; “rake1, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

Anagrams
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