Meanings
- idiomaticuncountableVery unpleasant consequences; a great deal of trouble.
"When I'm hungry, there's hell to pay if I'm not fed quick."
1912, Mary Roberts Rinehart, “The Miracle”, in Love Stories2 more examples
"I told him I had sent for you an' when you got heah these slippery, mysterious thieves, whoever they were, would shore have hell to pay."
1921, Zane Grey, chapter 3, in To The Last ManCongressman Bart Stupak of Michigan . . . vows that "there will be hell to pay" if his language gets stripped out of, or weakened in, the final legislation.
2009 November 16, Amy Sullivan, “Can Dems Resolve Their Abortion Split?”, in Time, retrieved 28 Aug 2013Synonyms: the devil to pay, the devil to pay, and no pitch hot
Synonyms & antonyms
nounVery unpleasant consequences; a great deal of trouble.
Cite this entry
hell to pay. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hell%20to%20pay
“hell to pay.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hell%20to%20pay. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hell to pay,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hell%20to%20pay.
Source: hell to pay on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.