netherdom

noun

netherdom

noun

Etymology From nether + -dom.

1

The condition, realm, or sphere of things below; a lower kingdom or domain; netherregion; the netherworld; Hell.

  • It is a spectacle that ought to make the imps of netherdom tremble for their laurels — man.1901, Louis Freeland Post, Alice Thatcher Post, Stoughton Cooley, The Public: A journal of democracy:
  • A great gathering of the lost, the waste, " the drift of both banks," as my Officer-guide aptly puts it. It is, surely, a sight more for tears than wonder. Actual Netherdom.1906, Annie S. (Swan) Smith, The outsiders
3 more examples
  • But Olympian Homer keeps them submerged in his sunless Netherdom, from which however, he lets them peep forth once in a while with a dreadful eye-shot at his startled reader.1922, Denton Jaques Snider, A biographic outline of Homer as he reveals himself in his works:
  • Still this lower world of the folk finds its due counterpart in the upper world of royalty and nobility, who are making a Pandemonium of mutual carnage out of Britain, and like fiends broken loose from Satan's Netherdom are hugely charactered with blood-guilt and blood-revenge.1922, Denton Jaques Snider, A biography of William Shakespeare:
  • A flash of lightning was swiftly followed by uproarious celestial laughter as I took leave of my parents solemnly as if I was leaving them forever, longer; as if I was embarking on some journey into the pitiless expanses of netherdom.2009, R. A. Jones, Cassandra: Wren of Black Crag:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.