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like a bat out of hell

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.

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RELATED WORDS

rapid, agile, brisk, nimble, hot, quick, swift, rapidly, instantaneously, swiftly, speedily, immediately, promptly, hastily, instantly, expeditiously, hurriedly, fleeting, electric, flying

Nearby words

  1. ligurian sea,
  2. ligustrum,
  3. likable,
  4. likasi,
  5. like,
  6. like a bump on a log,
  7. like a cat on hot bricks,
  8. like a champ,
  9. like a chicken with its head cut off,
  10. like a drowned rat
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.