hell on wheels

Idioms

Tough, aggressive, wild, or mean, as in Watch out for the boss—he's hell on wheels this week. This expression originated with the building of the Union Pacific Railroad in the 1860s, when it denoted the last town on the line, which was carried on freight cars as the track was extended. The town consisted mainly of tents occupied by construction gangs, liquor dealers, gamblers, and other camp followers known for their rough and often vicious ways.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In 18 episodes of the series “Hell on Wheels,” which ran for five seasons on AMC, he was the Rev. Nathaniel Cole.

From Los Angeles Times

His first Emmy nod was for AMC’s “Hell on Wheels” in 2012, a year before the release of the first “Last of Us” video game.

From Seattle Times

“Our older son was absolute hell on wheels as a baby. He wouldn’t sleep. He was terrified of everything. He screamed all the time. And we just thought, ‘This is just going to end in disaster,’ because he was such a dysregulated little boy,” Waldinger says.

From Washington Post

“It’s been hell on wheels,” said David Chambers, chair of political science.

From Washington Post

I'm pretty sure that's Southern-speak for "they were hell on wheels."

From Salon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023