Tell me more ×  I'm reading The Inflatable Volunteer by Steve
Aylett, and I'm stuck with this sentence:  Last week I was
flooding the banks with saliva, slivers of gill and drifting
snot, paddling hell-for-leather away from a harmless seal.  It's
a pretty bizarre novel, so I don't know if I don't understand
because of my bad English or if this was the author intention.
share|improve this question I don't like to seem harsh, but the
meaning of this expression really is "general reference". Even
without any "cue" words like "definition" or "meaning", if I
Google "hell-for-leather", there's a clear definition in the
second result. If you'd asked about the origin, it might be a
different story (but actually, it looks like there's no
certainty on that front). –  FumbleFingers Mar 2 '12 at 14:35 I
looked for hell-for-leather before ask here. Sorry anyway. – 
Tae Mar 2 '12 at 14:40 Even knowing what all the terms mean
doesn't help me understand this sentence. How do saliva, snot,
and a harmless seal combine into a