See hell-bent for leather in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
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],
"etymology_text": "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.",
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"ref": "2003, Edward Landers, Smooth, →ISBN, page 510:",
"text": "[...] his Supply Officer was hell bent for leather to torpedo his tour as the Commanding Officer and wanted explanations, or at least reassurances.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2013, Clem Martini, One Hundred Stories for One Hundred Years, →ISBN, page 52:",
"text": "She had been through several programs, to no avail; nothing worked, she was hell-bent for leather, she was intent on hurting herself.",
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"ref": "2009, Yay Panlilio, The Crucible: An Autobiography by Colonel Yay, Filipina American Guerrilla, Rutgers University Press, →ISBN:",
"text": "“Gosh!” said Marking. “Where the hell did the Japs get that? [...Was that] a Jap plane? God damn, it was fast.” And I agreed, “It was hell-bent for leather some place.”",
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"ref": "2000, Angus Wynn, Mojave Fringe, →ISBN, page 95:",
"text": "It had been quite some piece of road from an eastern region of Arizona to SOD, but Jethro was hell-bent for leather. His desire for a meeting with Zelda Klemp had taken him over. He'd been driving since late the previous night ...",
"type": "quote"
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{
"ref": "2006, Jeanne Elizabeth Siphron, Fit to be crazy: living with lithium and manic depression, →ISBN:",
"text": "I was determined not to be a back seat driver. I said nothing. I waited patiently for her to stop hugging the berm to keep distance from fast moving traffic. I waited for three thousand miles. She was hell bent for leather to get to our destination, ...",
"type": "quote"
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"Synonym of hell-bent (“(recklessly) determined”)"
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],
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"text": "[...] his Supply Officer was hell bent for leather to torpedo his tour as the Commanding Officer and wanted explanations, or at least reassurances.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2013, Clem Martini, One Hundred Stories for One Hundred Years, →ISBN, page 52:",
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"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2006, Jeanne Elizabeth Siphron, Fit to be crazy: living with lithium and manic depression, →ISBN:",
"text": "I was determined not to be a back seat driver. I said nothing. I waited patiently for her to stop hugging the berm to keep distance from fast moving traffic. I waited for three thousand miles. She was hell bent for leather to get to our destination, ...",
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"word": "hell-bent for leather"
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Download raw JSONL data for hell-bent for leather meaning in English (3.3kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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