Also used:
raise Cain
raise the devil
Meaning of Idiom ‘Raise Hell’
To raise hell is to behave in a rowdy, noisy and disruptive way; to create a commotion or trouble; to loudly argue or make angry demands. 1Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.,2Ayto, John. [http://amzn.to/2vdGvI7 Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms]. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010.,3Heacock, Paul. Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms]. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010.,4Jarvie, Gordon. Bloomsbury Dictionary of Idioms. London: Bloomsbury, 2009.,5Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth M. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms. Ware: Wordsworth, 1995.
Usage Notes
The idiom ‘raise hell’ gave rise to a noun version, hell-raiser. There is no such idiom as ‘Cain-raiser’ or ‘devil-raiser.’
Sentence Examples
“If you don’t give me my money back, I’m going to come down there and raise hell.”
“My package is a week late. I called the company and raised hell about it but they can’t seem to find it.”
“I was never one to raise hell in high school but when I got to college I became quite the partier.”
“He was a bit of a hell-raiser during his youth so It’s hard to believe he’s running for mayor.”
“My uncle used to raise Cain when he was drunk but he was a sweetheart the rest of the time.”
“This heavy rain raised the devil with our crops.”
Origin
Raise hell is the oldest of the variants, dating from around 1700. It uses the term raise to mean ‘bring up’ or ‘nurture,’ alluding to bringing hell up to Earth. The second variation, raise the devil, dates from 1800 and refers to bringing up the devil himself.
Raising Cain is the latest and may have been coined in an attempt to avoid using the words hell or devil. Cain was a biblical figure who killed his brother Abell, becoming the first murderer. The variant dates from the mid-1800s.6Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.
