hell's bells

hell's bells

An exclamation of frustration or surprise. A shortened form of the phrase "hell's bells and buckets of blood." Oh, hell's bells—the printer isn't working, and my paper is due in five minutes!
See also: bell
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

Hell's bells (and buckets of blood)!

Inf. an exclamation of anger or surprise. (Use caution with hell.) Alice: Your pants are torn in back. John: Oh, hell's bells! What will happen next? Bill: Well, Jane, looks like you just flunked calculus. Jane: Hell's bells and buckets of blood! What do I do now?
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

Hell’s bells !

verb
See Hell’s bells and buckets of blood!
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

hell's bells

An interjection or mild expletive expressing surprise or annoyance. Dating from the first half of the nineteenth century, this expression undoubtedly owes its longevity to its rhyme. John Dos Passos used it in Manhattan Transfer (1925), “But hell’s bells, what’s the use when this goddam war takes the whole front page?”
See also: bell
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • Hell's bells!
  • Hell’s bells and buckets of blood!
  • hell's bells and buckets of blood
  • hell's teeth
  • wear the cap and bells
  • nine tailors make a man
  • not a cat in hell's chance
  • give her the bells and let her fly
  • bell
  • not have a cat in hell's chance
References in periodicals archive
He witnessed the aftermath of the bombing as he hitchhiked home from leave, saying: "I went through Coventry and saw what had happened, and thought 'hell's bells, this is going to be an air war.'" ."
If music makes you feel good then that's all that really matters, and hell's bells Gary Barlow et al can write a singalong like no other.
HELL'S BELLS Star throws his weights about during workout.
I can promise you that, like the subhead for this month's entry, every column will start with a quotation of lyrics from some song or another (nothing new here--after all, three of my first columns for the magazine were titled "Hell's Bells," "We Can't Rewind, We've Gone Too Far," and "Across the Universe").
Hell's bells, how can we even pretend it's about owt else when the freakin' photos they use are called 'selfies.'.
Evans ended the post with a cheery, "Hell's bells! No wonder I'm so knackered!!!!
Well, hell's bells, I not only hit the target but shot some pretty good groups.
Furth 5.30pm THE rousing rendition of AC/DC's Hell's Bells which will accompany St Pauli and Greuther Furth onto the pitch at the Millerntor should inspire these heavyweights in today's key Bundesliga 2 clash, writes Steve Davies.
You look in the mirror and, hell's bells, there she is staring right back at you.
Ghouls' first example of this is the primal Hell's Bells.
** MAXWELL, VC, Lt Joe Hell's Bells & Mademoiselles HarperCollins, 2012 271 pp $24.99 ISBN 9780732296650
JOHN CONNOLLY Hell's Bells: Samuel Johnston v The Devil Round II (Hodder & Stoughton, pounds 12.9) THIS chatty book at times sounds like a favourite lively science teacher or Stephen Fry with a vast otherworldly knowledge of demons.
HELL'S BELLS: SAMUEL JOHNSTON V THE DEVIL ROUND II BY JOHN CONNOLLY (Hodder & Stoughton, pounds 12.9) THIS fabulously chatty book at times sounds like a favourite lively science teacher or Stephen Fry with a vast other-worldly knowledge of demons.
? Hell's Bells: Samuel Johnston V The Devil Round II by John Connolly (Hodder & Stoughton, pounds 12.9): Teen hero Samuel is sucked into hell by innocuously-named Mrs Abernathy, a demon in human form, trying to win back her favourite spot next to the Devil.
HELL'S bells - as AC/DC would say - what a weekend at Download!