hell to pay
noun1
Idiomatic Very unpleasant consequences; a great deal of trouble.
- "When I'm hungry, there's hell to pay if I'm not fed quick."1912, Mary Roberts Rinehart, “The Miracle”, in Love Stories:
- "I told him I had sent for you an' when you got heah these slippery, mysterious thieves, whoever they were, would shore have hell to pay."1921, Zane Grey, chapter 3, in To The Last Man:
1 more example
- Congressman Bart Stupak of Michigan . . . vows that "there will be hell to pay" if his language gets stripped out of, or weakened in, the final legislation.2009 November 16, Amy Sullivan, “Can Dems Resolve Their Abortion Split?”, in Time, retrieved 28 Aug 2013:
- Synonyms
- the devil to pay, the devil to pay, and no pitch hot