1659. The London Chanticleers, i., 2. I’ll always live a virgin! What! and lead apes in hell?
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 179. Celladon at that began To talk of apes in hell.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Bloudie Jacke.’ They say she is now leading apes … And mends Bachelors’ small clothes below.
To put the devil into hell, verb. phr. (old).—To copulate.—Boccaccio. [Hell = female pudendum.] For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.
To give hell, verb. phr. (common).—To trounce; abuse; or punish severely. Also (American), to make one smell hell (or a damn particular smell).
Hell-for-leather, adv. phr. (common).—With the utmost energy and desperation.
1892. R. Kipling, Barrack Room Ballads. When we rode hell-for-leather, Both squadrons together, Not caring much whether we lived or we died.
Like hell, adv. phr. (common).—Desperately; with all one’s might.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxix. I tried every place, everything; went to Ems, to Wiesbaden, to Hombourg, and played like hell.
Go to hell! phr. (Common).—An emphatic dismissal: the full phrase is, ‘Go to hell and help the devil to make your mother into a bitch pie.’ [A variant is, [[301]]‘Go to hell and pump thunder.’] For analogous phrases, see Oaths.