noun

• A person who causes trouble by drinking, being violent, or otherwise behaving outrageously.

  ‘Yet another chapter has been opened in the life of Pete Townshend, whose past as a hellraiser has seen him struggle with addiction to drink and drugs.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘AC/DC, MC5 and the Dead Kennedys are all standard texts for guitar-toting hellraisers.’
  • ‘Chapman couldn't help but notice that the brothers were remarkably well-behaved, contrary to their reputation for being rock 'n' roll hellraisers.’
  • ‘Johnny and the Poorboys are Keighley's popular hellraisers of Irish, country and rock ‘n’ roll music.’
  • ‘Here's a quick recap of the most celebrated male hellraisers of recent years.’
  • ‘New Zealand's greatest comic actor, Brian Sergent, is about to take on the character of the legendary Brian Bell - a hellraiser, possibly a genius, kindly fellow and terrible old bastard who was ‘in a class of his own’.’
  • ‘The Oscar-winning actor became firm friends with the Irish hellraiser after they began working together on the big-screen version of ‘Miami Vice’.’
  • ‘The former hellraiser, who claims to have been clean for two years, said he realised he was in trouble when he stopped for a ‘disgusting’ burger, after a 48 hour binge, and was convinced he would die of a heart attack..’
  • ‘The Hollywood hellraiser was said to be furious over the arrest and was heard telling police: ‘This is bullsh * t!’’
  • ‘His obituaries rightly said a hole has been left in the Commons, that he was a first-class hellraiser and an incomparable character.’
  • ‘A fearless hellraiser, he died in 1977 in a skiing accident in Switzerland.’
  • ‘Meanwhile, it has emerged that wild rocker Pete may have a reputation as a hellraiser these days but was a teacher's pet at school.’
  • ‘His off-field sins, such as they are, are prosaic by the standards of a born hellraiser - typical teenage stuff.’
  • ‘The grizzled hellraiser wants a share of the merchandising profits instead of a flat fee, presumably to spend on more booze.’
  • ‘Hunter S. Thompson was a consummate hellraiser and we loved him for it.’
  • ‘While my friends insist that I should be dating sophisticated thirty-something women with the aim of settling down, I find myself attracted to wild, volatile hellraisers.’
  • ‘His reputation as a hellraiser and a big drinker was coming to dominate and even overshadow his work.’
  • ‘A notorious boozer and hellraiser, the guy is particularly well known for persuading his endless series of one-nighters to ‘slip into something comfortable.’’
  • ‘A former drug addict and reformed hellraiser, he's on the comeback trail with a sickly song that gradually starts to work its way up the charts.’
  • ‘Last year, Waylon Jennings, former hellraiser and founder of the 70s country outlaw movement, took him aside for a quiet word about his recreational habits.’