Dictionary

brimstone en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈbɹɪmstəʊn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈbɹɪmstoʊn/ (General-American)
• /ˈbɹɪmstən/ (obsolete)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English brymston, brimston, bremston, forms of brinston, brenston, bernston, from Old English brynstān (“brimstone”, literally “burn-stone”), equivalent to burn + stone. Cognate with Scots brunstane (“brimstone”), Icelandic brennisteinn (“sulfur / sulphur, brimstone”), German Bernstein (“amber”). Compare also brimfire. More at burn, stone. Although once a synonym for sulfur, the word is now largely restricted to poetic and Biblical usage.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The sulfur of hell; hell, damnation.
   • For griefe thereof, and diuelish despight, / From his infernall fournace forth he threw / Huge flames, that dimmed all the heauens light, / Enrold in duskish smoke and brimstone blew. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
   • Till, as a signal giv'n, th' uplifted Spear / Of their great Sultan waving to direct / Thir course, in even ballance down they light / On the firm brimstone, and fill all the Plain; / A multitude. 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC:
   • But the sulphurous brimstone which burns in hell is a substance which is specially designed to burn for ever and for ever with unspeakable fury. 1916, James Joyce, chapter III, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC, page 138:
   • And thus I sawe the horses in the vision, and them that sate on them, hauing brest-plates of fire and of Iacinct, and brimstone, & the heades of the horses were as the heads of Lions, and out of their mouthes issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 9:17:
   • [W]hen he [the Devil] is aweary of vice, and aweary of virtue, used up as to brimstone, and used up as to bliss […] 1854, Charles Dickens, “Explosion”, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC, 2nd book (Reaping), page 212:
2. (archaic, countable, uncountable) Sulfur.
   • Don't think, young man, that we go to the expense of flower of brimstone and molasses, just to purify them. 1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC:
   • Weel I wot I wad be broken if I were to gie sic weight to the folk that come to buy our pepper and brimstone, and suchlike sweetmeats. 1816, [Walter Scott], The Antiquary. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:
3. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) A whore.
   • I went to the park, picked up a low Brimstone, called myself a Barber, & agreed with her for Sixpence, went to the bottom of the park, arm in arm, & dipped my machine in the Canal […]. 1763, James Boswell, edited by Gordon Turnbull, London Journal 1762-1763, Penguin, published 2014, page 237:
4. (archaic, countable, uncountable) Used attributively as an intensifier in exclamations.
   • You are a brimstone pig. You're a head of swine! 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:
   • I made a speaking trumpet of my hands and commenced to whoop “Ahoy!” and “Hello!” at the top of my lungs. […] The Colonel woke up, and, after asking what in brimstone was the matter, opened his mouth and roared “Hi!” and “Hello!” like the bull of Bashan. 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
   • You're a brimstone idiot. 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:
5. (countable, uncountable) The butterfly Gonepteryx rhamni of the Pieridae family.
   • A brimstone butterfly flirted among the purple shadows under the palms. 1954, Ian Fleming, “Passionate Leave”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 242:
6. (Internet, countable, uncountable) Online content of exceptionally poor quality, lower than coal.

Forms

Antonyms

gemerald

Deriveds

brimstone flower · fire and brimstone · rain fire and brimstone · brimstone match · brimstonewort · brimstony

Translations (37)

sv svavel (the sulfur of Hell) · tr orakkanat (butterfly species) · ru зловре́дный (intensifier in exclamations) · lt citrinukas (butterfly species) · fi tulikivi (the sulfur of Hell) · de Zitronenfalter (butterfly species) · ca sofre (the sulfur of Hell) · ru прокля́тый (intensifier in exclamations) · sv citronfjäril (butterfly species) · ro pucioasă (the sulfur of Hell) · lv citrontauriņš (butterfly species) · he לִימוֹנִית (butterfly species) · id belerang (the sulfur of Hell) · hu citromlepke (butterfly species) · prg sweppils (the sulfur of Hell) · enm brymston (the sulfur of Hell) · bg пъкъл (the sulfur of Hell) · lv krūkļu baltenis (butterfly species) · it zolfo (the sulfur of Hell) · it cedronella (the sulfur of Hell) · it cedronella (butterfly species) · da citronsommerfugl (butterfly species) · ru лимо́нница (butterfly species) · fi tulimmainen (intensifier in exclamations) · fi sitruunaperhonen (butterfly species) · ru жу́пел (the sulfur of Hell) · ko 멧노랑나비 (butterfly species) · nl citroenvlinder (butterfly species) · ru круши́нница (butterfly species) · ca llimonera (butterfly species) · udm ӵужбубыли (butterfly species) · fr citron (butterfly species) · bg лимоница (butterfly species) · bg жупел (the sulfur of Hell) · ru чёртов (intensifier in exclamations) · hu kénkő (the sulfur of Hell) · de Höllenschwefel (the sulfur of Hell)