rakehell

comparative more rakehell · superlative most rakehell · alternative rake-hell

1. archaicImmoral; dissolute.First known use 16th c.

   And farre away, amid their rakehell bands, / They spide a Lady left all succourlesse […].

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   1 more example

   I knew from the beginning that I would have to move fast to keep Minnie to myself. Kansas City was full of rakehell bachelors, all of whom I had to outcourt.

   1982, Roy Wilkins, Tom Mathews, Standing Fast: The Autobiography of Roy Wilkins - Volume 10, page 79

   Synonyms: rakehelly

plural rakehells · alternative rake-hell

1. archaicA lewd or wanton person; a debauchee; a rake.First known use 16th c.

   It seldom doth happen, in any way of life, that a sluggard and a rakehell do not go together.

   a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number)”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1830–1831, →OCLC

   4 more examples

   And indeed I believe the insolence of this creature will ruin her master at last, by driving away men of sobriety and business, and making the place a den of vagabonds and rakehells.

   1725, Daniel Defoe, Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business

   “It is some freak of that drunken rakehell,” said Albert, in a low voice, to his sister, who had crept out after him on tiptoe.

   1826, [Walter Scott], chapter XXXII, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC

   A fat little bookseller in the City, a rakehell wit of noble blood, and a rugged Scotch surgeon from the navy—[…]

   c. 1906, Arthur Conan Doyle, Through the Magic Door

   […] is a spinsterish and prudish woman, losing her youth, who becomes aware of her strongly sensual nature and in desperation has the courage to act on her sexual impulses; she offers herself to the young doctor next door, John Buchanan, whom she has loved since she was a schoolgirl. Ironically, John, who at the beginning of the play is a young rakehell, has moved in the opposite direction, and has become intent on leading a respectable and conventional life by the time Alma approaches him openly.

   1976 December 25, Robert Chesley, “New York's "Nightingale" Does No Justice to Williams' Play”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 26, page 16