hell's bells

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

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˌhɛlz ˈbɛlz/

Interjection

hell's bells

1. (mildly vulgar) An expression of frustration, outrage, or surprise. [from mid 19th c.]

   (expression of frustration): Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dammit

   (expression of surprise): Synonyms: hell's teeth; see also Thesaurus:wow

   • 1920, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XXIX, in Main Street: The Story of Carol Kennicott, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, →OCLC, section V, page 352:

     What's the matter with his talking so polite? Hell's bells, Harry, no harm in being polite. There's some regular he-men that are just as polite as women, prett' near.

   • 1932, Edgar Wallace, Merian C[aldwell] Cooper, novelization by Delos W[heeler] Lovelace, chapter 1, in King Kong, trade softcover edition, Nevada City, Calif.: Underwood Books, published 2005, →ISBN, page 6:

     "You've never had a woman in any of your other pictures. Why do you want one for this?" / "Hell's Bells! You don't think I'm consulting my own preference, I hope."

Translations

expression of frustration, outrage, or surprise

• Catalan: porca misèria, puta misèria, quina misèria
• Italian: porca miseria, porca puttana, porca troia

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

Further reading

• Hell's Bells (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Datura stramonium on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Datura stramonium on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Datura stramonium on Wikispecies.Wikispecies