hellhound

[ hel-hound ]

noun

1. a mythical watchdog of hell.
2. a fiendish person.

hellhound

/ ˈhɛlˌhaʊnd /

noun

1. a hound of hell
2. a fiend

Word History and Origins

Origin of hellhound¹

before 900; Middle English, Old English helle hund; hell, hound ¹

Example Sentences

A teenage boy who resembles Ralphie comes out of a cabin, holding a wand and the chain of a gigantic hellhound.

From Literature

Cerberus, the guard of the underworld, is featured with Hercules, a reference to the heroic demigod’s 12th and final labor which involved capturing the hellhound.

From Washington Times

For the Greeks, the Black Sea was the edge of the known world, inhabited by, as he writes in the book, “cannibals, hellhounds, man-slaughtering Amazons, dwarves mounted on flying cranes, Cyclopes, lice-eaters, and werewolves.”

From Washington Post

Packs of hellhounds prowled the plains, baying and snarling and attacking any monster that dropped its guard.

From Literature

King James Rempe, the hellhound of pool, stalked the table with a werewolf’s hypnotic stare, his eyes at last alive, his mane bristling as though a full moon had finally broken through the midnight clouds.

From Washington Post