Word.ws English Dictionary

hellhound

UK/ˈhɛlhaʊnd/US/ˈhɛlˌ(h)aʊnd/

hellhound noun: a demonic dog of hell, typically of unnatural size, strength or speed, with black fur, glowing eyes, and ghostly or phantom characteristics.

Noun

hellhound (plural hellhounds)

  1. A demonic dog of hell, typically of unnatural size, strength or speed, with black fur, glowing eyes, and ghostly or phantom characteristics.
    • From forth the kennell of thy wombe hath crept / A Hell-hound that doth hunt vs all to death:c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    • Barricading serves not: fly fast, ye Bodyguards; rabid Insurrection, like the hellhound Chase, uproaring at your heels!1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter X, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book VII (The Insurrection of Women)
  2. (figuratively) An evil or unpleasant person.
    Synonyms:
    hound of hell

Synonyms of hellhound

Forms of hellhound

pluralhellhounds
alternative formhell hound
alternative formhell-hound

Origin of hellhound

From Middle English helle hound; equivalent to hell + hound.

Questions about hellhound

What does hellhound mean?
Hellhound means a demonic dog of hell, typically of unnatural size, strength or speed, with black fur, glowing eyes, and ghostly or phantom characteristics.
What part of speech is hellhound?
Hellhound is a noun.
How do you pronounce hellhound?
Hellhound is pronounced /ˈhɛlhaʊnd/ (UK).
What is the plural of hellhound?
The plural of hellhound is hellhounds.

Words near hellhound in the dictionary

  1. hellgramites
  2. hellgrammite
  3. hellgrammites
  4. hellhole
  5. hellholes
  6. hellhound
  7. hellhounds
  8. hellhouse
  9. hellhouses
  10. Hellidon
  11. hellier

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hellhound (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “hellhound.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hellhound. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.