Hell's Kitchen
3
4.9
- proper noun
- /hɛlz ˈkɪtʃən/
:
Hell's Kitchen
- She was born in Hell's Kitchen in New York.
- Hell's Kitchen neighborhood
- new office in Hell's Kitchen
Examples
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Carol still works for a Social Service agency and lives in Hell's Kitchen.
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So I'm constantly trying to find new restaurants and things to do in Hell's Kitchen.
Blog text (22) -
I grew up in Hell's Kitchen.
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Stay out of Hell's Kitchen.
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Hell's Kitchen is my neighborhood.
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I spend a lot of time in Hell's Kitchen because I'm an actress, and I see a lot of shows.
Blog text (22) -
I don't really love Hell's Kitchen; it's just kind of my default where I spend all my time.
Blog text (22) -
Yet, despite the harshness of life... ...Hell's Kitchen offered the kids on its streets a safety net... ...enjoyed by few other neighbourhoods.
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One night I wandered around Hell's Kitchen west of Times Square, and a guy smiled in passing.
Fiction book (1997) -
I grew up in Hell's Kitchen, a neighborhood in Manhattan known for its vibrant atmosphere.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Hell's + Kitchen
As a toponym, Hell's Kitchen refers to a specific Manhattan neighborhood and this referent cannot be deduced from the literal words 'hell' and 'kitchen'; a B1 learner knowing those words would more likely imagine a horrible kitchen or a figurative phrase, not a district. Recognizing the place-name sense requires cultural/historical knowledge rather than straightforward compositional interpretation, so it is not transparently deducible from its parts.
Etymology
Hell's Kitchen may come from people long ago calling the area a dangerous, noisy 'neighborhood' that felt like a hot, chaotic kitchen and like hell because of crime and poor housing. That's why the name stayed for the part of Manhattan once known for hard living and gangs.