hell-for-leather

[hel-fer-leth -er] /ˈhɛl fərˈlɛð ər/
adjective
1.
characterized by reckless determination or breakneck speed:
The sheriff led the posse in a hell-for-leather chase.
adverb
2.
in a hell-for-leather manner; hellbent:
motorcycles roaring hell-for-leather down the turnpike.
Origin
1885-90
Slang definitions & phrases for hell-for-leather

hell-for-leather

adverb

Rapidly and energetically; all-out, flat out: Frank and Pat had gone hell-for-leather over this territory

[1889+; origin unknown; perhaps related to British dialect phrases go hell for ladder, hell falladerly, hell faleero, and remaining mysterious even if so, although the leather would then be a very probable case of folk etymology with a vague sense of the leather involved in riding tack]