hell-fire noun & adjective. ['hɛlfʌɪǝ] OE.
[from HELL noun + FIRE noun.]
A. noun.
1. The fire or fires of hell. OE.
transf.:
■ A. MacLean Breathing hell-fire and brimstone in all directions.

2. (Hell-fire.) A member of a Hell-fire club (see below). obsolete exc. Hist. E18.
b. attrib. or as adjective.
1. Hist. Hell-fire club, any of a number of clubs of reckless young men, popular at the beginning of the 18th cent. E18.

2. Esp. of preaching: concerned with or emphasizing the damnation of souls and the eternal punishments of hell. M20.
■ R. Campbell The hell-fire sermons of the local priest.

■ hell-fired adjective subjected to hell-fire; chiefly fig. (slang) damned, confounded: E18.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲