Hell is for horsies.
Dear Word Detective: “Hell bent for leather.” Now there’s got to be a story there! And it just happens to be one of my favorite expressions. — Tabitha, Bath, UK.
Man making his hand talk like a duck, circa 1912.
Leather? Well, whatever floats your boat. Personally, I could see going “hell bent for pizza” or “hell bent for doughnuts.” Speaking of doughnuts, I have an outrage to report, albeit a bit belatedly. When I lived in New York City, the stores sold blue and white boxes of Dutch Mill All-Natural Doughnuts. They were wonderful (picture that word in italics and bold-face). But, sometime around 2001, an evil competitor bought Dutch Mill and put them out of business. That’s bad, but the worst part is that if you ask for Dutch Mill doughnuts in a NYC deli today, nobody remembers them. Incredible. It’s like forgetting Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, or the first Tremors movie. It’s an outrage.
Oh well, back to work. There are three elements to “hell bent for leather,” an American invention that first appeared in print at the end of the 19th century meaning “at breakneck speed; recklessly determined.” “Hell,” of course, is the Bad Place, considered throughout human history to be located in either the Underworld or Paramus, New Jersey. “Hell” has also long been used as an intensifier, lending force to a proclamation, question or insult (e.g., “What the hell are you doing?” doesn’t really have anything to do with Hell.)
“Bent,” an adjective formed from the verb “to bend,” is here used in the sense of “directed on a course” with implications of “determined, resolute.” Put together, “hell bent” (sometimes spelled as one word, “hellbent”) has, since the early 18th century, meant “recklessly determined to do something at any cost; doggedly determined.” It’s a bit unclear whether the original sense was “willing (and possibly likely) to go to hell to achieve one’s goal” or just “really, really determined,” but the bottom line is that it’s best not to interfere with someone “hell bent” on anything (“I know your kind — hell-bent to spend what you cash in,” 1910).
The truly odd thing about “hell bent for leather” is that it appears to be a combination of two other phrases: “hell bent” and “hell for leather,” which also dates to the late 19th century. “Hell for leather” specifically referred to riding a horse very fast, the “leather” in question being either the saddle or, more likely, the leather crop used to “incentivize” the poor horse. Rudyard Kipling seemed especially fond of the phrase (“Here, Gaddy, take the note to Bingle and ride hell-for-leather,” Story of the Gadsbys, 1889), and probably contributed to its popularity. “Hell bent for leather” doesn’t make any more literal sense than “hell for leather” did, but the fact that “hell bent” is more widely understood undoubtedly led to the fusion of the two phrases.
I wonder if perhaps the “bent” in hell bent for leather refers to the verb “bend” that is still used to in nautical circles to mean putting on more sails and thus increasing the speed of the vessel. To be perfectly precise, one “bends on” a sail, as in, “The wind slackened, so we bent on the Number 1 genoa to make better speed in the light air.”
I’m a sailor and wannabe etymologist – especially when phrases involve nautical references.
Love the site.
Is it possible that the ‘leather’ refers to the end of the horse itself (alternatively, ‘hell bent for glue”?
The phrase makes perfect sense in the lyrics of the theme song for the classical TV show Rawhide. However, one wonders if the Judas Preist song with the same name (Hell Bent For Leather) is only making reference to other songs and narratives while placing motorcycles where horses should be, or if the phrase is/was already common with riders of “Harley Davidson”s as well.
I believe this phrase sounds as though it originated from a race. Perhaps describing one so determined to win leather that they would ride in any manner neccesary to win.
Then eventually becoming accepted to be able to describe anyone determined enough to be reckless.
Whether we’re talking about the saddle, the crop or the poor horse’s backside, riding fast must be hell for the leather, right? ;-)
Could it have anything to do with making the saddles themselves? The warming and stretching of the leather to the saddle?? Or possibly they had the same strange fetishes as ‘The Pony Club’ people who dress up as ponies and riders and enjoy some ‘free time’….!!
It all sounds pretty good but I think I like it coming from the bottle cap of a Big Sky brew!!
I think it has something to do with pulling a gun. Like “Slap leather”.
In the ’40s and ’50s, it meant going at or to something fast and furious regardless of the consequences. I haven’t heard it used recently.
LOL, love Knights answer
‘Leather’ was slang for c*nt.
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As a kid who cut his teeth on classic movie westerns from the fifties, the phrase, in my mind, hads alwaye referred to quick guns, fast draw, and being ‘hellbent’ to draw faster than your foe, despite the overwelming odds of being unsuccessful. Despite your stuff about ‘horses’, I’ll stick with my own interp.
I always wondered whether the original phrase might have been “hell bent for lather” denoting that the horse would be all lathered up as a result of hard riding.
Incidentally, I, too, was a lover of Dutch Mill Donuts and, in fact, ate two for breakfast every day to help me when I gave up smoking back in 1990. Always wondered what happened to them. Thanks for the info.
And all this time I thought it was hell bent on election!
Or is that a mondegreen?