Meaning
Moving with reckless speed or pursuing something with fierce determination. Colourful, somewhat old-fashioned Regional use: Blended American and British phrase family; combined form documented in the United States.
Origin
A 20th-century blend of older expressions. Hell-bent, meaning grimly determined, is securely printed in the United States by 1824; hell-bent for election appears by 1882, while British hell for leather is in Kipling by 1890. The combined hell-bent for leather is documented in California in 1912. Why leather or election was added is unknown, and horse-tack explanations remain speculative.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- go hell-bent for leather
- hell for leather
- hell-bent for election
Usage Examples
- The messenger rode hell-bent for leather before the storm closed the pass.
- They went hell-bent for election, knocking on every door in the county.