hell-firen.adv.int.
/ˌhɛlˈfʌɪə/, /ˈhɛlfʌɪə/, U.S. /ˈhɛlˌfaɪ(ə)r/ A. n.† 2. A member of a Hell Fire club (see sense A. 3). Obsolete.
1. A fire or the fires conceived of as raging in hell. Frequently considered as an embodiment or symbol of eternal punishment after death. Also figurative.In quot. eOE with reference to Mount Etna, popularly perceived as the entrance of hell.
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the world > the supernatural > deity > hell > [noun] > fire of
hell-fireeOE
fireOE
flamec1384
hell's kitchen1694
eOE Metres of Boethius (partly from transcript of damaged MS) viii. 51 Etne..on iglonde Sicilia swefle byrneð, þæt mon hellefyr hateð wide, forþæm hit symle bið sinbyrnende.
OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xviii. 9 Betere þe ys mid anum eage on life to ganne þonne þu si mid twam asend on hellefyr [c1384 Wycliffite, E.V. fijr of helle, 1526 Tyndale hell fyre, 1582 Rheims the hel of fire; L. in gehennam ignis, Gk. εἰς τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός].
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 10075 Werrpenn inn till helle fir. To bærnenn butenn ende.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 120 Wurðe buten ende helle fures fode.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 2894 (MED) Godd wit schild ȝe do þat sin, þat ȝee in hell fire [a1400 Gött. hell] for-brin.
1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints (Arun.) (1938) 3911 (MED) Þou shalt walwyn in helle-feere.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Matt. v. f. vj In daunger off hell fyre [Gk. τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός].
1576 A. Golding Warfare of Christians ii. 42 Whosoeuer calleth his brother foole, shall bee in daunger of Hell fire.
1605 J. Dove Confut. Atheisme 5 When their consciences are possessed with an opinion of hell fire.
1671 J. Eliot Indian Dialogues i. 17 They may be tormented among..wicked men in Hell fire for ever.
1716 W. Hendley St. Paul's Charge to Timothy 14 You would not run yourselves into Hell-Fire by your Sins.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 175 He bid defiance to the eternity of hell fire.
1839 W. M. Thackeray Let. 23–31 Dec. (1945) I. 402 There is to be sure the horrible Hell Fire.
1860 R. W. Emerson Fate in Conduct of Life (London ed.) 18 Neither..hell-fire, nor ichor..can get rid of this limp band.
1918 M. MacGill Anzac's Bride 13 Dick had been through the hell-fire of Gallipoli, and was on seven days' leave.
1950 L. Casper in H. Brickell O. Henry Prize Stories of 1951 (1951) 58 Hellfire and pain were everlastin, he decided.
1980 H. Carpenter Jesus iv. 50 Whether Jesus envisaged a literal hell-fire for sinners cannot be determined.
2002 C. Williams Sugar & Slate 61 She was a born proselytiser and took every opportunity to preach her own unique brand of hell-fire and brimstone.
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1720 in J. P. Malcolm Mann. & Cust. London (1808) 149 The Hell-Fires..fly at Divinity. The third person of the Trinity is what they peculiarly attack..calling for a Holy-Ghost-pye at the Tavern.
1857 Harper's Mag. Sept. 524/2 It required a considerable force of mounted soldiery before the ‘Mohawks’, ‘Bold Bucks’, or ‘Hell Fires’ would disperse.
3. Hell Fire Club n. now historical (the informal name of) a secret organization founded in London by Sir Francis Dashwood (1708–81), whose exclusively male, chiefly aristocratic members allegedly indulged in paganistic rituals, wild behaviour, and orgiastic activities; any of various clubs formed chiefly about the beginning of the 18th cent. of a similar nature.The original Hell Fire Club was formally known as the Friars of St Francis of Wycombe, The Monks of Medenham, or The Order of Knights of West Wycombe, having their later meetings in Medenham Abbey or in the caves under the hills of West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Famous members supposedly included the Earl of Sandwich, John Wilkes, William Hogarth, and Frederick, Prince of Wales.
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society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > specific societies or organizations > [noun] > specific clubs
Hell Fire Club1721
mug-house1827
rag1858
The ‘In’ and ‘Out1925
1721 (title) The Hell Fire Club, kept by a Society of Blasphemers.
1755 Connoisseur No. 54 The Mohocks, and the members of the Hell-Fire-Club, the heroes of the last generation..struck out mighty good jokes from all kinds of violence and blasphemy.
1789 Times 24 July 2/4 His Lordship neither excels in blasphemy, bawdry, or the bottle... He cannot trace even one of his ancestors, who had the honour to be a Member of the Hell Fire Club.
1821 T. De Quincey J. P. F. Richter in London Mag. Dec. 611/1 When a member of the Hell-fire-club, he actually tied a poor man to the spit; and, having spitted him, proceeded to roast him.
1825 R. Chambers Trad. Edinb. II. 259 The Hell-Fire Club, a terrible and infamous association of wild young men..met in various profound places throughout Edinburgh.
1881 Haydn's Dict. Dates (ed. 17) Hell-fire clubs, three of these associations were suppressed 1721.
1936 M. Bowen W. Hogarth 260 [The painting] is said to represent a wager taken by members of the 'Hell Fire Club' that they would not leave the cellar till they had emptied a hogshead of claret.
1975 E. A. Godwin Godwin & Age of Transition Introd. 20 [In the second half of the 18th cent.] social brutalities were considerably curbed, and the way was paved for wider reforms... Hellfire clubs were becoming less numerous.
2007 Coventry Evening Tel. (Nexis) 16 Feb. 32 Conor says he was inspired by the old legends of the Hell Fire Club and the tale of the devil turning up one night during rowdy celebrations.
B. adv.
As an intensive: very, extremely; ‘damned’.Now chiefly in hell-fire hot: very hot; at a heat level suggestive of hell-fire.
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1760 C. Johnstone Chrysal II. i. i. 3 The weather in summer is hell-fire hot, in winter hell-fire cold. Now what sense can the very Devil himself..make of such contradictions?
1952 Albuquerque Tribune 8 May 18/3 It is real hell-fire hot around here these days.
1977 P. O'Brian Mauritius Command ix. 231 Hamelin would find the wench's forelock hellfire hard to grapple, now that she had forged ahead.
2001 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 10 Mar. 18 Grilled tuna..arrives with that tell-tale thickish border of opacity, suggesting that the grill hadn't been hellfire hot enough to sear the fish properly.
C. int.
colloquial. Expressing anger, annoyance, or surprise; = hell int.
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the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [noun] > religious oaths (referring to God) > referring to the devil or hell
fienda1568
hangment1825
heck1887
hell1888
Hades1912
hell-fire1939
1939 Street & Smith's Western Story Mag. 23 Sept. 23/1 Hell fire, man, haven't you got a single lick of sense!
1980 N. Tosches Lust among Adverbs in Nick Tosches Reader (2000) 138 ‘Don't you worry none what I got it for; just you lay down,’ I said. ‘Hell fire,’ you said. ‘Why should I?’
1995 N. Whittaker Platform Souls (1996) xxxiii. 244 He does a few quick scribbles on his notepad and whistles. ‘Hellfire!’
2005 Daily Mail (Nexis) 20 Apr. 12 Bloody hellfire! You can't park there!
Compounds
attributive or as adj. Of, or associated with, hell-fire, esp. relating to, designating, or characterized by, a form of extreme religious belief or instruction having the threat of hell-fire as a central theme.
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1831 H. Savery Quintus Servinton III. 59 There's near a thousand chaps here [i.e. in the hulk], and many of 'em are real hell-fire devils..and 'twont do to draw no distinctions like, with new chums.
1894 Waterloo (Iowa) Courier 11 July He was an old fashioned ‘hell fire’ preacher and begged his hearers to make preparation for the hereafter before it was everlastingly too late.
1905 Smart Set Sept. 113/2 Names of Satanic painters from Hell-Fire Breughel to Arnold Böcklin..passed through the halls of this nosophile's memory.
1952 R. Campbell Lorca 10 The hell-fire sermons of the local priest.
1972 P. M. Hubbard Whisper in Glen xviii. 175 The old woman tried to purge her own indiscretions by giving her daughter a hell-fire upbringing.
1987 Financial Times (Nexis) 11 Sept. i. 17 These scenes have a hellfire intensity that suggest what Kubrick may have been aiming for in the film as a whole.
1999 D. Longenecker House of Mirrors in Path to Rome 33 Bob Jones, an old-fashioned, hell-fire evangelist from Alabama.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adv.int.eOE