brimstone
UK /ˈbɹɪmstəʊn/ · US /ˈbɹɪmstoʊn/ noun
Forms brimstones
- noun (biblical) The sulfur of hell; hell, damnation.
- noun (archaic) Sulfur.
- noun (obsolete) A whore.
- noun (archaic) Used attributively as an intensifier in exclamations.
- noun The butterfly Gonepteryx rhamni of the Pieridae family.
- noun (Internet slang) Online content of exceptionally poor quality, lower than coal.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English brymston, brimston, bremston, forms of brinston, brenston, bernston, from Old English brynstān (“brimstone”, literally “burn-stone”), equivalent to burn + stone. Cognate with Scots brunstane (“brimstone”), Icelandic brennisteinn (“sulfur / sulphur, brimstone”), German Bernstein (“amber”). Compare also brimfire. More at burn, stone. Although once a synonym for sulfur, the word is now largely restricted to poetic and Biblical usage.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Sulphur; See Sulphur.
- adjective Made of, or pertaining to, brimstone; as, brimstone matches.
Etymology [OE. brimston, bremston, bernston, brenston; cf. Icel. brennistein. See Burn, v. t., and Stone.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “brimstone”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details