like a bat out of hell

1. Moving extremely fast, as in She ran down the street like a bat out of hell. This expression presumably alludes to the rapid darting movement of bats and, Charles Earle Funk theorized, their avoidance of such light as might be cast by the fires of hell. [c. 1900] For a synonym, see like greased lightning.

Example Sentences

They undoubtedly gave him even greater publicity and notoriety, helping his solo career to skyrocket like a bat out of hell.

From BBC

“Some of these people that come into college where they’re like, ‘I’m gonna do me no matter what, and I’m coming in here like a bat out of hell’ — I felt so in awe watching them,” Skinner says.

From Los Angeles Times

My wife shot out of the corner like a bat out of hell and leapt from her truck.

From Salon

And then when we put him on the lead — sometimes it’s a struggle to get them to move — he took to it like a bat out of hell.”

From Seattle Times

“I jumped in my car and drove like a bat out of hell … jumped in a helicopter and we were flying that day,” Johnson said, recalling risky flights over lava flows.

From Washington Times

Related Words

• expeditiously 
• hastily 
• hurriedly www.thesaurus.com
• immediately 
• instantaneously www.thesaurus.com
• instantly 
• promptly 
• rapidly 
• speedily www.thesaurus.com
• swiftly