hell week

See also: Hell Week

English

Alternative forms

Hell Week

Pronunciation

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Noun

hell week (plural hell weeks)

(chiefly US) The week during which new members are required to undergo undignified rites of initiation or gruelling discipline in order to be accepted into a fraternity, sorority, secret society, military group, etc.
- 1924, P. E. Ketterer, "Beta Chi Fijis Develop Sensible Plan of Informal Initiation", in Phi Gamma Delta Quarterly, volume 47, page 664:
  Beta Chi's seven freshmen have passed through "hell week." The whole initiation was unique in that the horse-play was […]
- 1995 September 10, “Citadel's First Female Cadet Tells of the Stress of Her Court Fight”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 December 2024:
  She was among a number of cadets taken to the infirmary with heat sickness on the first day of the rigorous drills called hell week.
(chiefly US, military) The week of especially intense and sustained activity that occurs during United States Navy SEAL training.
- 1988, Sleep Research, volume 17, page 146:
This [SEAL] training is exceptionally rigorous. During the first phase, there is a 2-week "indoctrination" period, a 3-week training program, and "hell week". Hell week is an intense training exercise involving sleep loss, sustained performance, […]
(chiefly US) In a college or university, the week leading up to final examinations.
- 1991, James K. Semones, Effective Study Skills: A Step-by-step System for Achieving Student Success, page xvii:
  As a college freshman, this was vividly impressed on me during my first exposure to hell week. Hell week is the term many students use in reference to what professors and other college officials call final exam week.
- 2002, Paul Laska, Four Years, page 147:
  I finished my exam and handed it to the grad assistant at the front row. […] I had finished Hell Week! Winter break has officially begun.
(chiefly US) In a theatre, the week of final preparations leading up to a play's opening day.
- 2004, Geoff Hoff, Steve Mancini, Weeping Willow: Volume One: Welcome to River Bend, page 34:
  The diner was so incredibly busy that afternoon he didn't have any time to feel sorry for himself, which pissed him off. He asked Twain what all the people were doing there, and Twain informed him, in a tone that suggested he should already know, that it was hell week. It took him thirty minutes of getting under both Matt and Twain's feet as they bustled around trying to serve everyone, for Lee to be able to ask what the hell hell week was. "The play opens next week," Twain said, […]
- 2024, Brídín Clements Cotton, Natalie Robin, Theatre Work: Reimagining the Labor of Theatrical Production:
  For many students, from their first experience in the theatre, there is an expectation that students will put aside everything else (including school work) during "hell week," when the production is finally prepared for audiences. Hours are long, there is a lot of waiting around, and a game of pride develops around who works harder, sleeps least and "cares the most." […]

References

“hell week”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.