hellbent, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

hellbent adj.

[lit. ‘determined on hell’]

1. (orig. US) determined, stubborn; also as adv.

1835		Knickerbocker (N.Y.) VI 12: He discovered that he was in the midst of a large encampment of savages, hideously painted, and ‘hell-bent’ on carnage [DA].
1856		Spirit of Age 24 Apr. n.p.: We are so hell-bent for Heaven! [DA].
1888		Manchester Courier 6 Jan. 6/1: The Chief Secretary [...] is described as ‘Hell-bent’ on a seizure of the paper.
1897		A.H. Lewis Wolfville 239: The old hold-up is on the mule an’ goin’ hell-bent when I curls him up.
1907		W.M. Raine Bucky O’Connor (1910) 21: I know your kind – hell-bent to spend what cash in.
1912		J. London Smoke Bellew (1926) 199: It’s Sam an’ his pardner an’ a dog-team hell-bent down the trail for Stewart River.
1925		D. Hammett ‘Corkscrew’ Story Omnibus (1966) 212: They’re hellbent on proving to everybody that they’re just as tough as the next one.
1934		O. Strange Sudden 86: He’s got his head down an’ is runnin’ hell-bent for trouble like an angry steer.
1941		in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 263: Hell-bent for his fun / He went home on the run, / And diddled his grandmother’s maid.
1956		H.S. Thompson letter 25 Oct. in Proud Highway (1997) 21: Until then, I remain, crazed with power and hell bent for the worst kind of infamy...
1962		G. Marx letter 17 Jan. in Groucho Letters (1967) 143: Should you journey this way, hell-bent for sex or gambling, I’m not very good at either.
1971		J. Mandelkau Buttons 154: To get drunk, doped up and ride hell bent and carefree as fast and as recklessly as we desire.
1981		J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 73: When the runaway was running hell-bent down the staircase, Buckmore Phipps turned to Gibson Hand.
1992		D. Jarman diary 7 Nov. Smiling in Slow Motion (2000) 251: The royal family seem hell-bent on self-destruction.
2000		Indep. Rev. 3 Apr. 4: A man who was hell-bent on having intercourse with a swan.

2. in fig. use, a general intensifer.

1913

J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 172: I saw him yesterday, in a big hell-bent automobile.

In phrases

hellbent for breakfast (adv.)

rushed, hurriedly, at top speed.

1924		Adventure 10 Dec. 106: We run on to a 77 th’ Germans had beat it away from —bent for breakfast [HDAS].
1931		J.F. Dobie Coronado’s Children 104: I was going lickety-split, hell-bent for breakfast, trying to head off a gotch-eared brown stallion and his bunch [DA].

hellbent for election (adv.) (also ...Sunday, ...Georgia) [fig. uses of election/Sunday; the enthusiasm of politicians for the fruits of power/workers for their day of rest; the link to Georgia is unclear]

(US) hurriedly, recklessly; occas. as adj.

1899		S. Crane ‘Twelve O’Clock’ in Pall Mall Mag. XIX 462: I tell you, one puncher racin’ his cow-pony hell-bent-fer-election down Main Street an’ yellin’ an’ shootin’ an’ nothin’ at all done about it, would scare away a whole herd of capiterlists.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 134: The critter got away [...] an’ went, hell bent fur ’lection, down acrost the little bench below here.
1910		J. London Burning Daylight Ch. iii: I tell you-all she’s in the air and hell-bent for election. Nothing can stop her, and she’ll come up river.
1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 425: Does a Chink ever want to ride a horse, hell-bent for election an’ havin’ a good time of it?
1918		J.N. Hall High Adventure 97: I can swing in the rods of a box car with the train going hell bent for election.
1920		T.H. Kelly What Outfit, Buddy? 199: Listen to that hell-bent-for-election noise.
1935		P. Warburg [bk title] Hell Bent for Election.
1944		C. Jones [movie title] Hell-Bent for Election.
1960		in DARE (1991) 960/1: hell-bent for Sunday.
1977		(con. 1942) in J. Curry River’s in My Blood (1983) 42: He was hell-bent for Georgia to go down the river.
2000		C. Patterson ‘The Legend of HellBent’ 🌐 Hell bent for election that pony did run, / straight across Texas, defyin’ the sun.

hellbent for leather (adv.)

see hell for leather under hell n.