hell's bells

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English

WOTD – 31 October 2021

Etymology

From hell +‎ -’s +‎ bells, possibly an elaboration of hell (“used to express anger, discontent, or unhappiness”) with bells chosen to rhyme with hell’s.

The noun sense (Datura stramonium) may allude to the often spiny seed capsules of the poisonous plant which somewhat resemble bells when they mature and split open; compare devil's cucumber, devil's snare, devil's trumpet, and devil's weed which are other common names for the plant.

Pronunciation

Interjection

hell's bells

  1. (mildly vulgar) An expression of frustration, outrage, or surprise.
    (expression of frustration): Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dammit
    (expression of surprise): Synonyms: hell's teeth; see also Thesaurus:wow

Translations

Noun

hell's bells pl (plural only)

The name hell’s bells given to jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) may allude to the often spiny seed capsules of the poisonous plant which somewhat resemble bells when they mature and split open.
  1. Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium).

Translations

Datura stramonium — see jimsonweed

References

  1. ^ “hell's bells, int.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “hell's bells, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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