like a bat out of hell
English edit
Etymology edit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
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Prepositional phrase edit
- (simile) With crazy or excessive intensity or speed.
- Synonym: hell-for-leather
- He came tearing around the corner like a bat out of hell and nearly ran us over.
- 1904, The Texas Civil Appeals Reports: Cases Argued and Determined in the Courts of Civil Appeals of the State of Texas, volume 32, page 594:
- Appellee testified that "the train came through like a bat out of hell," and while this language is probably highly figurative, it nevertheless might tend to indicate that the train was running at a very high speed.
- 1966, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 3, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York: Bantam Books, published 1976, →ISBN, page 38:
- The Paranoids cast off, backed the Godzilla II out from the pier, turned and with a concerted whoop took off like a bat out of hell, nearly sending Di Presso over the fantail.
- 1977, Jim Steinman (lyrics and music), “Bat Out of Hell”, in Bat Out of Hell, performed by Meat Loaf:
- Like a bat out of hell
I'll be gone when the morning comes.
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