as hell

English

Pronunciation

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Adverb

as hell

1. (postpositive, simile) To a great extent or degree; very.

   It's cold as hell in here!

   It was icy as hell that morning and as I put my brakes on the van just kept going.

   The 88-year-old is in fact as "happy as hell" about her new novel Go Set a Watchman.

   Kim is as phony as all hell.

   • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     With conscience wide as hell, mowing like grass

   • 2001, Dan Brown, Angels and Demons:

     Two thousand years of waiting for their Messiah, and they're still persistent as hell.

   • 2004, James W. Huston, Secret Justice:

     Just annoying as hell, as obnoxious as hell, and as effective as hell.

   • 2004, Teralee E. M. Bird, Seraphim Trilogy Book One; What the Herald Angel Sang:

     Even though he was frightened for them, even though he was scared as hell to fail them, it felt so good to know these people cared when he hurt!

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see as,‎ hell.
   • 1707, Isaac Watts, “Parting with Carnal Joys”, in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, London: J. Humfreys, page 87:

     My Soul forſakes her vain Delight, / and bids the World farewel, / Baſe as the Dirt beneath my Feet, / And miſcheivous as Hell.

Usage notes

May also be used in conjunction with a prepositive as; for example, as mean as hell.

Synonyms

• as all hell
• as a motherfucker
• as anything
• as fuck
• as heck (less vulgar)
• as shit
• as

Related terms

• hot as hell

 

Translations

very

• Belarusian: да хале́ры (da xaljéry)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: ～到死 (dou³ sei²), ～到鬼 (dou³ gwai²), 鬼咁～ (gwai² gam³)

• Czech: jako prase (cs)
• Danish: pisse-
• Dutch: als de pest, als de neten
• French: à mort (fr), à crever
• Italian: da morire
• Polish: cholernie (pl), jak cholera (pl), jak diabli (pl), jak jasna cholera, jak jasny gwint, jak nie wiem, jak nie wiem co, jak sto diabłów, jak wszyscy diabli
• Portuguese: pra caralho (pt)
• Romanian: ca dracu
• Russian: черто́вски (ru) (čertóvski)
• Swedish: som fan (sv), så in i helvete

References

• Colin McIntosh, editor (2013), “(as) ... as hell”, in Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 4th edition, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, reproduced in the Cambridge English Dictionary website, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Anagrams

• Hellas