English Explanatory Dictionary

hell-bent for leather

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adv
  1. determinedly recklessly, in a manner that lacks restraint.
  2. Synonym of hell-for-leather (“very fast”).
  3. Synonym of hell-bent (“(recklessly) determined”).

Word forms

hell-bent for leather

Etymology

Apparently a blend of hell-bent + hell-for-leather, though sometimes said to have been initially applied to animals which behaved poorly as if they were bent on being turned into leather.

Synonyms

hell-for-leather hell-bent
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