hellward, adv. and a.
(ˈhɛlwəd)
[f. hell n. + -ward: orig. to hellward.]
A. adv. Towards hell: a. Downward, towards the centre of the earth. b. Towards the place of final punishment.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 114 A wenche..Cam walkynge in þe wey, to-helle-ward she loked. c 1440 Jacob's Well (E.E.T.S.) 170 Þe depthe of þi skete of contricyoun muste be depe in sorwe downward, to helle-warde. 1623 Lisle ælfric on O. & N. Test. Pref. ¶3 We are hoisted sometime to heaven with a billow of presumption, and dung downe againe with abysse of despaire to helward. 1675 Hobbes Odyssey (1677) 125 Then of the ram and ewe let out the blood Into the pit; their heads to hell-ward place. 1726 W. Broome Ep. to Elijah Fenton 97 Trees..Root hell-ward, and thence flourish to the skies. 1789 Burns Ode in Mem. Mrs. Oswald, Doom'd to share thy fiery fate, She, tardy, hell-ward plies. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. iii, Magician and Wizard to lead us hellward. |
B. adj. Directed or conducting to hell.
| 1829 Moir in Blackw. Mag. XXV. 632 Still man thinks that hellward paths can e'er lead up to Heaven. |