hellhound

American  

[hel-hound] / ˈhɛlˌhaʊnd /

noun

1. a mythical watchdog of hell.

2. a fiendish person.

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hellhound British  

/ ˈhɛlˌhaʊnd /

noun

1. a hound of hell

2. a fiend

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Etymology

Origin of hellhound

before 900; Middle English, Old English helle hund; hell, hound ¹

Example Sentences

“You wish,” I say as my hellhound jumps up my legs.

From Literature

Cerberus, the guard of the underworld, is featured with Hercules, a reference to the heroic demigod’s 12th and final labor which involved capturing the hellhound.

From Washington Times

For the Greeks, the Black Sea was the edge of the known world, inhabited by, as he writes in the book, “cannibals, hellhounds, man-slaughtering Amazons, dwarves mounted on flying cranes, Cyclopes, lice-eaters, and werewolves.”

From Washington Post

Jason, Piper, and Nico stood on the near side of the chasm, which was good, but they were surrounded by a ring of Cyclopes and hellhounds.

From Literature

King James Rempe, the hellhound of pool, stalked the table with a werewolf’s hypnotic stare, his eyes at last alive, his mane bristling as though a full moon had finally broken through the midnight clouds.

From Washington Post