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till hell freezes over

till hell freezes over idiom

Forever, as in They said they'd go on searching till hell freezes over, but I'm sure they'll give up soon. This hyperbolic expression dates from the early 1900s. So does its antonym, not till hell freezes over, meaning “never,” as in I'm not giving in, not until hell freezes over.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.