rakehell

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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

Adjective

rakehell (comparative more rakehell, superlative most rakehell)

  1. (archaic) Immoral; dissolute.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      And farre away, amid their rakehell bands, / They spide a Lady left all succourlesse […].
    • 1982, Roy Wilkins, Tom Mathews, Standing Fast: The Autobiography of Roy Wilkins - Volume 10, page 79:
      I knew from the beginning that I would have to move fast to keep Minnie to myself. Kansas City was full of rakehell bachelors, all of whom I had to outcourt.

Synonyms

Noun

rakehell (plural rakehells)

  1. (archaic) A lewd or wanton person; a debauchee; a rake.
    • 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 J 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— […]
    • 1976 December 25, Robert Chesley, “New York's "Nightingale" Does No Justice to Williams' Play”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 26, page 16:
      […] is a spinsterish and prudish woman, losing her youth, who becomes aware of her strongly sensual nature and in desperation has the courage to act on her sexual impulses; she offers herself to the young doctor next door, John Buchanan, whom she has loved since she was a schoolgirl. Ironically, John, who at the beginning of the play is a young rakehell, has moved in the opposite direction, and has become intent on leading a respectable and conventional life by the time Alma approaches him openly.

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.

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