Around the time Maine was electing its Whig governor, British cavalry soldiers in India were riding " hell for leather," a phrase used by Rudyard Kipling in a few of his stories to mean "at top speed." The assumption is that Kipling didn't coin the phrase, but having lived in India from 1882-89, it was a cavalry term he would have heard. By one anecdotal account, after the state of Maine elections of 1840, it supposedly found its way into the Whig victory slogan: "Oh, have you heard how old Maine went? She went hell-bent for Governor Kent." This word history seems reasonable however, concrete evidence of the phrase from 1840 has not surfaced.Īnother uncertainty over the expression is how exactly it came to denote all-out speed. The word hell-bent is commonly used to imply reckless or all-out speed (or simply recklessness or daring). Anyone "hell-bent" on something is recklessly determined to get it, regardless of the consequences―even eternal damnation.Īdverbial use of the word in the construction "hell-bent for" appears to have originated in the U.S. John Doyle, The Globe and Mail (Canada), 8 July 2017 That's part of the allure of the series-Iovine, a caustic but cautious, private man, contrasted with the hellzapoppin' world of Los Angeles hip-hop and rap. In fact, he was outraged and embarrassed that the acquisition. Dre and his cronies are going wild with the news that it would be a deal worth billions.
Hellzapoppin' might seem a tad dated, but it still has fun from time to time.ĭr. ― The Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, 1942
The Detroits floundered hilariously into the world championship in seven hellzapoppin' games. The phrase is also used in closed form like the title. The phrase's heyday was in the 1930s and 1940s, which coincides with the 1938 debut of the musical Hellzapoppin' and the 1941 release of the film of the same title. ― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, 1939 There'll be hell a-popping whenever they do come together. One less frequently used expression is hell (a-)popping, which caught on as a catchphrase in American slang to describe situations unfolding in a chaotic manner. Over the centuries, hell has been used in various emphatic or intensive expressions, many of which are quite common. Other English relatives of helan include helmet, hull, hole, hollow, and hall. It is related to the Old English verb helan, meaning "to hide" or "to conceal," which is of Germanic origin. The word hell has existed since Old English times as the name for an abode of the dead.
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