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rakehell. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
rakehell, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
rakehell in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
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)
- (archaic) Immoral; dissolute.
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)
- (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. , volume (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. , volume (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
- ^ “rakehell, adj. and n.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2008; “rakehell, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ^ “to rake (out) hell, phrase” under “rake, v.2”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2008; “rake1, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading
Anagrams