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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

like a bat out of hell en · ADP

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. (qualifier:simile) With crazy or excessive intensity or speed.
    • Like a bat out of hell I'll be gone when the morning comes. 1977, Jim Steinman, “Bat Out of Hell”, in Bat Out of Hell, performed by Meat Loaf:
    • He came tearing around the corner like a bat out of hell and nearly ran us over.
    • Appellee testified that "the train came through like a bat out of hell," and while this language is probably highly figurative, it nevertheless might tend to indicate that the train was running at a very high speed. 1904, The Texas Civil Appeals Reports: Cases Argued and Determined in the Courts of Civil Appeals of the State of Texas, volume 32, page 594:
    • The Paranoids cast off, backed the Godzilla II out from the pier, turned and with a concerted whoop took off like a bat out of hell, nearly sending Di Presso over the fantail. 1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 3, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 38:

Synonyms

hell-for-leather

Translations (11)

es a toda leche (Translations) · vi hộc tốc (Translations) · de wie Schmidts Katze (Translations) · fi kuin viimeistä päivää (Translations) · pl na złamanie karku (Translations) · es como alma que lleva el diablo (Translations) · fr à fond la caisse (Translations) · es a toda pastilla (Translations) · fr à toute berzingue (Translations) · sv som ett jehu (Translations) · fr à pleine balle (Translations)