a) An exclamation of despair or woe - a highly
intensified form of "
bloody hell!" or "dammit!".
b) (
Shakespearean) - an expression from Act I Scene 3 of Othello. Brabantio is furious that his daughter Desdemona is in love with the Moor: he speculates that, with this love being so unnatural, Othello must have evoked malevolent supernatural influences, the powers of "cunting hell".
It is a
judgement maimed and most imperfect
That will confess
perfection so could err.
Against all
rules of nature, and must be driven
To find out practices of cunting hell
Why this should be.
(OTHELLO, Act I Scene 3, lines 102-106).