hell's bells
Also found in: Wikipedia.
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. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
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. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Hell’s bells !
verbMcGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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 Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer