▪ I. devil, n.
(ˈdɛv(ə)l, ˈdɛvɪl)
Forms: 1 diobul, d{iacu}oful, déoful, 1–2 déofol, 2–3 deofel, 2–5 deouel, 3–5 deuel, 4–7 deuil, devel, 6–7 divel, 6– devil. Also 1 d{iacu}oful, déoful, north. diowul, diowl, dioul, diwl, deuil), 3 diefel, Orm. de(o)fell, 3–4 dieuel, 4 dyevel, 5 dewill, -elle, dyuell, 5–6 devell, devyl, -yll(e, deuyl(l, 5–7 deuill, 6 diuill, 6–7 diuel(l, divel(l, 8–9 dial. divul, Sc. deevil; monosyllabic 4–5 deul, dele, del, 5 dewle, dwill, dwylle, delve, 5–6 dule, 7 de'el, 8–9 Sc. deil, Exmoor doul, Lancash. dule. Plural 1 déoflu, 2 deofle, deoflen, deflen, 2–3 deulen, 5 develyn; 1 north. diules, 2 deofles, deoules, deuules, deules, doules, 3 Orm. de(o)fless, 4 devles, devels, etc.; gen. pl. 1–3 déofla, 3–4 devele; dat. pl. 1 déoflum, 2 deoflan, -en.
[OE. déofol, etc., corresponding to OFris. diovel, OS. diuƀul, -ƀal, diobol, diabol, diuvil (MDu. düvel, dievel, Du. duivel, MLG., LG. düvel), OHG. tiuval, tioval, tiufal (Notker), diuval, diufal (Tatian, Otfrid), MHG. tiuvel, tievel, tiufel, tiefel, Ger. teufel; ON., Icel. djöfull (Sw. djefvul, Da. djævel); Goth. diabaulus, diabulus, immediately a. Gr. διάβολος, in Jewish and Christian use ‘the Devil, Satan’, a specific application of διάβολος ‘accuser, calumniator, slanderer, traducer’, f. διαβάλλειν to slander, traduce, lit. to throw across, f. διά through, across + βάλλειν to cast. The Gr. word was adopted in L. as diabolus, whence in the mod. Romanic langs., It. diavolo, Sp. diablo, Pg. diabo, Pr. diablo, diable, F. diable; also in Slavonic, OSlav. diyavolŭ, dĭyavolŭ, etc. In Gothic the word was masc., as in Greek and Latin; the plural does not occur; in OHG. it was masc. in the sing., occasionally neuter in the plural; in OE. usually masculine, but sometimes neuter in the sing., regularly neuter in the plural deofol, deoflu; but the Northumbrian Gospel glosses have masculine forms of the plural.
The Gothic word was directly from Greek; the forms in the other Teutonic langs. were partly at least from Latin, and prob. adopted more or less independently of each other. Thus ON. djöfull regularly represents an original diaƀulz. OE. d{iacu}obul, déoful, déofol can also be referred to an earlier diaƀul, diavol (cf. It. diavolo), éo coming, through {iacu}o, from earlier {iacu}a. The OE. déo- would normally give modern dē-, exemplified in 15th c., and in mod. Sc. and some Eng. dialects, but generally shortened at an earlier or later date to dev- or div-. In some, especially northern, dialects, the v was early vocalized or lost, leaving various monosyllabic forms, of which mod. Sc. deil, and Lancashire dule are types.
The original Greek διάβολος was the word used by the LXX to render the Heb. sātān of the O.T.; in the Old Latin version it was regularly retained as diabolus; but Jerome substituted Satan, which is thus the reading of the Vulgate everywhere in the Canonical books, except in Ps. cviii. (cix.) 6 (the Psalter in the Vulgate being the Gallican version from the LXX). Wyclif translating the Vulgate, has in this place ‘the deuell’, but elsewhere in O.T. ‘Sathan’; the 16–17th c. Eng. versions have ‘Satan’ throughout after the Hebrew.]
1. the Devil [repr. Gr. ὁ διάβολος of the LXX and New Test.]: In Jewish and Christian theology, the proper appellation of the supreme spirit of evil, the tempter and spiritual enemy of mankind, the foe of God and holiness, otherwise called Satan.
He is represented as a person, subordinate to the Creator, but possessing superhuman powers of access to and influence over men. He is the leader or prince of wicked apostate angels, and for him and them everlasting fire is prepared (Matt. xxv. 41).
Besides the name Satan, he is also called Beelzebub, Lucifer, Apollyon, the Prince of darkness, the Evil One, the Enemy of God and Man, the Arch-enemy, Arch-fiend, the Old Serpent, the Dragon; and in popular or rustic speech by many familiar terms as Old Nick, Old Simmie, Old Clootie, Old Teaser, the Old One, the Old lad, etc.
(In this the original sense the word has no plural.)
| a 800 Corpus Gloss. 1457 (O.E.T) Orcus, hel diobul. c 825 Vesp. Hymns xiii. 4 Ðone dioful biswac. a 1000 Juliana 460 (Gr.) Hyre þæt deofol oncwæð. a 1000 Solomon & Sat. 122 (Gr.) Him bið þæt deofol laþ. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John viii. 44 Ge synd deofles bearn. c 1160 Hatton Gosp. Matt. iv. 5 Ða ȝebrohte se deofel hine on þa halȝan ceastre. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 237 Al folc ȝede in to þes diefles muðe. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 35 To luste þe defles lore. Ibid., Þa wurhliche weden þe þe dieuel binom ure forme fader adam. c 1250 Moral Ode 98 in E.E.P. (1862) 28 Dieð com in þis middenerd þurh þe ealde deofles onde. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 62/294 Þat was þe Deuel of helle. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. xxxix. 111 Ichot the cherl is def, the Del hym todrawe! c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 442 Þen God and þe devell were weddid togedre. 1382 ― Ps. cviii. [cix.] 6 Sett vp on hym a synere; and the deuell stonde at his riȝt side [1535 Coverdale, Let Satan stonde at his right hande; 1611 Satan, marg. or, an aduersary; 1885 (R.V.) adversary, marg. Or Satan, or an accuser]. ― Matt. xxv. 41 Euer⁓lastynge fijr, the which is maad redy to the deuyl and his angelis. ― Rev. xii. 9 And the ilke dragoun is cast doun, the greet olde serpent, that is clepid the Deuel. c 1400 Destr. Troy 4392 Þe folke..vnder daunger of þe dule droupet full longe. c 1450 Myrc 364 Hyt ys a sleghþe of the del. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 7170 Oft to gydir þai did euill, And gaf occasion to þe deuill. a 1535 Fisher Wks. (1876) 402 To forsake the diuel and all his works. 1571 Campion Hist. Irel. iv. (1633) 13 So wee say..dile for divill. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 277 As mad as the divel of hell. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 46 b, Where a man must deale with the Devil. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 99 The diuell can cite Scripture for his purpose. 1604 Jas. I Counterbl. (Arb.) 100 Why do we not denie God and adore the Deuill as they doe. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 302 The Samoreen..black as the devill, and as treacherous. a 1652 Brome Queene's Exch. ii. iii. Wks. 1873 III. 490 He looks So damnably as if the Divel were at my elbow. 1738 Swift Polite Convers. 97 That would have been a Match of the Devils making. 1817 Cobbett Wks. XXXII. 150, I defy the Attorney General, and even the Devil himself, to produce from my writings any one essay, which is not written in the spirit of peace. 1828 Carlyle Misc., Burns (1857) I. 212 The very Devil he cannot hate with right orthodoxy. 1846 Trench Mirac. v. (1862) 159 All gathers up in a person, in the devil, who has a kingdom, as God has a kingdom. |
b. According to mediæval notions:
cf. 3.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 245/165 In fourme of a fair womman þe deuel cam heom to. Ibid. 372/174 And þe Aungel heom scheuwede al a-brod þene deuel ase huy stude, Þe fourme of a grislich man þat al for-broide were And swarttore þane eueri ani blouȝman..Fuyrie speldene al stinkende out of is mouth he blaste And fuyr of brumston at his nose. 1563 W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 10 b, There was newes come to London, that the Devill..was seene flying over the Thames. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. iv. 16 Let's write good Angell on the Deuills horne 'Tis not the Deuills Crest. 1681 Glanvill Sadducismus ii. 111, The Devil..appeared to her in the shape of a handsome man, and after of a black dog. Ibid. xxviii, Declares that the Devil in the shape of a black man lay with her in the Bed..that his feet were cloven. 1805 Nicholls Let. in Corr. w. Gray (1843) 45 He thought that Milton had improved on Tasso's devil by giving him neither horns nor a tail. c 1850 J. W. Croker in Croker Papers (1884) III. xxvii. 215 By his bad character and ill-looking appearance, like the devil with his tail cut off. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. iv. 1296 The devil appears himself, Armed and accoutred, horns and hoofs and tail! |
c. In plural applied to ‘the Devil and his angels’, the host of fallen and evil spirits for whom hell was prepared: see 3.
2. From the identification of the
demons, δαιµόνια, δαίµονες, of the Septuagint and New Testament with Satan and his emissaries, the word has been used from the earliest times in English, as equivalent to or including
demon1 (sense 2), applied
a. (in Scripture translations and references) to the false gods or idols of the heathen;
b. (in Apocrypha and N.
Test.) to the evil or unclean spirits by which demoniacs were possessed;
c. in O.
Test. translating
Heb. sh⊇‘
îrîm hairy ones, ‘satyrs’.
In the Vulgate, as in
Gr.,
diabolus and
dæmon are quite distinct; but the Gothic of Ulfilas already uses
unhulþa (
Ger. unhold) to render both words, and in all the modern languages,
devil, or its cognate, is used for
dæmon as well as for
diabolus: see
demon1.
| a. c 825 Vesp. Psalter xcv[i]. 5 Forðon alle godas ðioda ðioful, dryhten soðlice heofenas dyde. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 227 An meȝie cynn þe nefer ne abeah to nane deofel ȝyld. c 1340 Cursor M. 11759 (Trin.) Alle þo deueles [Cott. idels; Fairf. mawmettes] in a stounde Grouelynge fel to þe grounde. 1382 Wyclif Ps. cvi. 37 Thei offriden ther sones and ther doȝtris to deuelis. [1611 deuils, 1885 (R.V.) demons. So Deut. xxxii. 17]. ― Acts. xvii. 18 A tellere of newe deuelis [1388 of newe fendis; 1526 Tindale, a tyddynges brynger off new devyls; 1557 Geneva of newe Gods; 1611 of strange gods; 1881 (R.V.) strange gods (Gr. demons)]. ― Rev. ix. 20 Thei worschipeden not deuels, and simulacres golden, treenen, the whiche nether mowen see, nether heere, nether wandre. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. x. 210 He..abolished all worshippe of deuilles. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 335 This Devill (or Molech) is of concave copper..double guilded. Ibid., 70 Temples, wherein they number 3333..little guilded Devils. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 373 Devils to adore for deities. 1881 N.T. (R.V.) 1 Cor. x. 20 The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils [marg. Gr. demons], and not to God. |
| b. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. ix. 34 In aldormenn diowbla [he] fordrifes diowlas. c 975 Rushw. G. ibid., In aldre deofla he ut-weorpeð deoful. c 1000 Ags G. ibid., On deofla ealdre he drifð ut deoflu. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 39 Ure drihten drof fele deules togedere ut of a man..and þe swin urnen alse deulen hem driuen. 1382 Wyclif Matt. ix. 34 In the prince of deuelis he castith out deuilis. ― John x. 20 He hath a deuel, and maddith, or wexith wood. ― 1 Tim. iv. 1 Ȝyuynge tent to spiritis of errour, and to techingis of deuels. ― Rev. xvi. 14 Thre vncleene spirites..sotheli thei ben spirites of deuelis, makinge signes. 1548 Udall etc., Erasm. Par. John 73 b, He hathe the Deuell (say they) and is madde. 1604 Canons Ecclesiastical lxxii. Neither shal any Minister not licensed..attempt..to cast out any deuill or deuils. 1611 Bible John x. 20 He hath a deuill and is mad. a 1656 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 18 The ejection of Divells by fasting and prayer. 1881 N.T. (R.V.) Matt. ix. 34 By the prince of the devils casteth he out devils [marg. Gr. demons]. |
| c. 1382 Wyclif Isa. xxxiv. 14 And aȝen come shul deueles [1388 fendis], the beste party an asse, and a party a man. ― Rev. xviii. 2 Greet Babilon fel doun fel doun, and is maad the habitacioun of deuelis [1611 deuils]. (Cf. Isa. xiii. 2.) [1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 11 The Satyre, a most rare and seldome seene Beast, hath occasioned others to thinke it was a Deuill..and it may be that Deuils haue at some time appeared to men in this likenes.] |
d. fig. A baleful demon haunting or possessing the spirit; a spirit of melancholy; an apparition seen in
delirium tremens: see
blue devil.
3. Hence, generically, A malignant being of angelic or superhuman nature and powers; one of the host of Satan, as ‘prince of the devils’, supposed to have their proper abode in hell, and thence to issue forth to tempt and injure mankind; a fiend, a demon. Also, applied to the malignant or evil deities feared and worshipped by various heathen people (
cf. 2 a).
In mediæval conception, devils (including Satan himself) were clothed with various hideous and grotesque forms; their usual appearance, however (still more or less retained in art), was derived from the satyrs of Roman mythology, or from the figure attributed to Pan, being a human form furnished with the horns, tail, and cloven foot of a goat.
| Beowulf 757 Wolde on heolster fleon, secan deofla ᵹedræᵹ. Ibid. 1680 Hit on æht ᵹehwearf aefter deofla hryre, Deniᵹea frean. a 1000 Crist 1531 (Cod. Exon. 30 b) On þæt deope dæl deofol ᵹefeallað. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 87 Ure ifan þet beoð þa deofles beoð bisencte in to helle. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 69 Witeð ȝe..in þat eche fur þat is ȝarked to deuules and here fereden. Ibid. 173 Hie iseð bineðen hem deflen þe hem gredeliche kepeð. c 1200 Ormin 1403 Alle þa þatt fellenn swa þeȝȝ sinndenn laþe deofless. Ibid. 10565 Deofle flocc. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 37/104 Þere nis no deuel þat dorre nouþe neiȝ þe come, for drede. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 450 A veyn blast of a fool, and, in cas, of a devyl. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxii. 21 For alle deorke deoueles dreden hit to huyre. c 1430 Hymns Virg. (1867) 121 Develyn schall com oute off helle. 1530 Palsgr. 214/2 Divell she, diablesse. a 1535 Fisher Wks. (1876) 428 Thou shalt pay thine owne debtes amongest the diuils in hell. 1563 Winȝet Four Scoir Thre Quest. §70 Wks. 1888 I. 118 Ane terribill cumpany of dewlis hastalie apperand to him. 1602 Narcissus (1893) 330 The haire of the faire queene of devills. 1605 Z. Jones tr. De Loyer's Specters title-p., The Nature of Spirites, Angels, and Divels. 1632 Lithgow Trav. ix. 404 The Italians swore, I was a Divell and not a man. a 1646 J. Gregory Posthuma (1649) 96 This Lilith was..a kinde of shee-divel which killed children. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. iv. v. 180 The visible appearance of a Devil or Dæmon which they say is common among them. 1842 Tennyson St. Sim. Styl. 4 Scarce meet For troops of devils. 1879 M. D. Conway Demonol. I. i. iv. 36 A devil..a being actuated by simple malevolence. |
4. transf. Applied to human beings.
a. A human being of diabolical character or qualities; a malignantly wicked or cruel man; a ‘fiend in human form’; in
ME. sometimes a man of gigantic stature or strength, a giant.
| c 960 Lindisf. Gosp. John vi. 70 Ic iuih tuelfo ᵹeceas & of iuh an diul [Rushw. diowul] is. a 1154 O.E. Chron. an 1137 Þa fylden hi mid deoules & yuele men. c 1205 Lay. 17669 He..wende anan rihte in to Winchæstre swulc hit weore an hali mon, þe hæðene deouel. c 1400 Rom. Rose 4288 An olde vecke..The which devel, in hir enfaunce Hadde lerned of Loves arte. c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 407 At thus with wrang, thir dewillis suld bruk our land. c 1500 Melusine xxxvi. 256 Ayeynst this strong dyuell I ne may withstand. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxix. (Percy Soc.) 136 Some develles wyll theyr husbandes bete. 1604 Shakes. Oth. v. ii. 132 Thou do'st bely her, and thou art a diuell. 1608–11 Bp. Hall Medit. & Vows i. § 6 That olde slaunder of early holiness: A young Saint, an olde Devill: sometimes young Devils have prooved olde Saints: never the contrary. 1611 Bible John vi. 70 Haue not I chosen you twelue, and one of you is a deuill? 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. xvii. 426 Devils in flesh antedate hell in inventing torments. 1726 Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 82 Thou Devil! said he to Susan, and hast thou betray'd me. 1867 Parkman Jesuits N. America xxii. 319 He was a savage still, but not so often a devil. |
b. In later use, sometimes, merely a term of reprobation or aversion; also playfully connoting the qualities of mischievous energy, ability, cleverness, knavery, roguery, recklessness, etc., attributed to Satan.
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 226 Thou most excellent diuell of wit. 1651 Life Father Sarpi (1676) 29 An Angel in his behaviour, and a Devil..in the Mathematicks. 1774 Goldsm. Retal. 57 So provoking a devil was Dick. 1775 Sheridan Rivals iii. iv, An ill-tempered little devil! She'll be in a passion all her life. 1849 Thackeray Pendennis lvi, A man of great talents, who knew a good deal..and was a devil to play. 1854 J. W. Warter Last of Old Squires xvi. 151 In our forefathers' days the term devil (for instance, ‘queer devil’, ‘rum devil’) had a modified signification, intimating more of the knave than of the fool, but not without a strong dash of the humourist. |
c. Applied in contempt or pity (chiefly with
poor): A poor wretched fellow, one in a sorry plight, a luckless wight. [So in
It.,
Fr., etc.]
| 1698 Froger Voy. 160 The poor Devil was condemned to have his head chopped off. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. (1775) 36 (Montriul), I am apt to be taken..when a poor devil comes to offer his service to so poor a devil as myself. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxi, ‘What can we do for that puir doited deevil of a knight-baronet?’ 1850 Ld. Beaconsfield Let. 16 Nov. in Corr. w. Sister (1886) 250 Riding the high Protestant horse, and making the poor devils of Puseyites the scapegoats. 1876 F. E. Trollope Charming Fellow I. xiii. 167 Why should he do anything..for a poor devil like me? |
d. Applied also to a vicious, evil-tempered, or mischievous beast.
| 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales II. 44 He was the fastest trotter in the cantonment, but a restive devil. 1884 Bath Jrnl. 26 July 6/5 That tusker there (pointing to the large elephant)..is a devil. He has killed three keepers already. |
5. spec. a. printer's devil: the errand-boy in a printing office. Sometimes the youngest apprentice is thus called. (In
quot. 1781 a girl or young woman.)
| 1683 Moxon Mechanic Exercises II, The Press-man sometimes has a Week-Boy to Take Sheets, as they are Printed off the Tympan: These Boys do in a Printing-House, commonly black and Dawb themselves: whence the Workmen do Jocosely call them Devils; and sometimes Spirits, and sometimes Flies. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 31 ¶13 Mr. Bickerstaff's Messenger, or (as the Printers call him) Devil, going to the Press. a 1764 Lloyd Dialogue Poet. Wks. 1774 II. 4 And in the morning when I stir, Pop comes a Devil ‘Copy Sir’. 1781 Johnson 20 Apr. in Boswell, He had married a printer's devil... I thought a printer's devil was a creature with a black face and in rags... Yes, sir: but I suppose he had her face washed and put clean clothes on her. 1836 Smart s.v. Sematology, Mr. Woodfall's men, from the devil up to the reader. 1849 E. E. Napier Excurs. S. Africa I. p. xxviii, As neither space, time, nor printers devils are under control, I must therefore content myself with the above brief..review. |
b. A junior legal counsel who does professional work for his leader, usually without fee.
Attorney-General's Devil, a familiar name of the Junior Counsel to the Treasury.
| 1849 Ld. Campbell Lives Chief Justices II. xxxiv. 437 He [Lord Mansfield] had signed and forgotten both opinions,—which were, perhaps, written by devils or deputies. 1872 Echo 14 Nov. (Farmer), Sir James Hannen, we are told, was a Devil once. 1884 Bath Jrnl. 12 July 8/1 Mr. Clarke was offered the post of ‘devil’ to the Attorney General, and his declining may be said to have been without precedent. 1888 Pall Mall G. 29 Dec. 3/1 It is by no means an uncommon thing for an Attorney-General's ‘devil’, or point and case hunter, to be offered a judgeship. |
c. One employed by an author or writer to do subordinate parts of his literary work under his direction; a literary ‘hack’; and generally one who does work for which another receives the credit or remuneration or both.
| 1888 Star 8 Aug., Certain societies, the Early English Text, Chaucer, Shakspere, etc., though large employers of ‘devils’, pay the highest wages. 1891 [see devil v. 3 c]. |
6. fig. Applied to qualities.
a. The personification of evil and undesirable qualities by which a human being may be possessed or actuated. (Usually with some
fig. reference to sense 2.)
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 297 It hath pleas'd the diuell drunkennesse, to giue place to the diuell wrath. 1606 ― Tr. & Cr. ii. iii. 23, I haue said my prayers and diuell, enuie, say Amen. Ibid. v. ii. 55 How the diuell Luxury..tickles these together. 1701 De Foe True-born Eng. 104 Ingratitude, a Devil of Black Renown. 1819 Shelley Cenci ii. i. 45 The devil was rebuked that lives in him. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxx, The devil of sophistry, with which thou art possessed. 1842 Tennyson Walking to Mail 13 Vex'd with a morbid devil in his blood. 1855 ― Sailor Boy 24 A devil rises in my heart, Far worse than any death to me. 1884 H. Broadhurst in Fortn. Rev. Mar. 347 The devil of short-sighted greed is powerful enough if left alone. |
b. colloq. Temper, spirit, or energy that can be roused; fighting spirit; perplexing or baffling strategy of attack (as in cricket).
| 1780 T. Pasley Private Sea Jrnl. 5 Mar. (1931) 69 He has many good qualities, but as the old adage says, has not Divil enough in him. 1823 Gentl. Mag. Nov. 434/2 They must have Devil enough..to do gallant things. 1847 Ld. G. Bentinck in Croker Papers (1884) III. 156 That any nation was so without ‘devil’ in it as to have laid down and died as tamely as the Irish have. 1884 I. Bligh in Lillywhite's Cricket Ann. 5 Evans bowled steadily, but without much ‘devil’. |
7. Used (generally with qualifications) as the name of various animals, on account of their characteristics,
e.g. Tasmanian devil, a carnivorous marsupial of Tasmania (
Sarcophilus ursinus);
sea devil, the
devil-fish:
cf. also sea-.
| 1686 Ray Willoughby's Hist. Piscium iii. iii. i. 85 heading, Rana piscatrix, the Toad-fish or Frog-fish or Sea-Divel. 1700 S.L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 286 There is a sort of Creature here..called..by the Dutch, The Devil of Negombo..because of its qualities.. It hath a sharp Snout, and very sharp Teeth. 1799 Naval Chron. I. 67 The Lophius..or Sea Devil, is a genus of the branchiostegious order. 1829 H. Widowson Pres. State Van Dieman's Land xviii. 180 The devil, or as the naturalists term it ‘dasyurus ursinus’, is very properly named... It is as great a destroyer of young lambs as the hyena; and, generally speaking, is as large as a middling-sized dog. 1832 J. Bischoff Van Dieman's Land ii. 29 The devil, or as naturalists term it ‘dasyurus ursinus’ is very properly named. 1857 Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 381 ‘Devil [that is, Indian Devil, or cougar] lodges about here—very bad animal.’ 1862 Jobson Australia vii. 186 Colonists in Tasmania..called it the ‘devil’ from the havoc it made among their sheep and poultry. |
b. A local name of the Swift (
Cypselus apus); formerly also of the Coot.
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Foulque, a bird called a Coute, & because of the blackenesse, is called a Diuell. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Brit. Birds 95 From its impetuous flight, and its dark colour, it is called Devil (Berks)..Swing Devil (Northumb.), Skeer Devil (Devon, Somerset), Devil's screecher (Devon), Devil shrieker (Craven). |
c. A collector's name of a tropical shell,
Cynodonta turbinellus.
Obs.| 1776 Da Costa Elem. Conchol. 291 (Plate V, fig. 5), A Murex, The Devil. |
8. A name of various instruments or mechanical contrivances,
esp. such as work with sharp teeth or spikes, or do destructive work, but also applied, with more or less obvious allusion, to others. Among these are
a. A machine used for tearing open and cleaning wool, cotton, flax, and other fibres, preparatory to spinning; also called
willow,
willower,
willy.
b. A machine used to tear up old cloth and reduce it to ‘shoddy’, to be worked up again into cloth; also one used to tear up linen and cotton rags, etc., for manufacture into paper.
c. An instrument used for feloniously cutting and destroying the nets of fishermen at sea.
d. An instrument of iron wire used by goldsmiths for holding gold to be melted in a blow-pipe flame.
e. An iron grate used for fire in the open air.
| 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metal, Certain implements acting with a boss and a slit block of iron, called a devil. 1836 Sir G. Head Home Tour 144 The town of Dewsbury..celebrated for..grinding old garments into new; literally tearing in pieces fusty old rags..by a machine called a ‘devil’, till a substance very like the original is reproduced. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) II. 30 ‘Shoddy’..consists of the second-hand wool manufactured by the tearing up, or rather grinding, of woollen rags by means of coarse willows, called devils. 1860 All Year Round No. 57. 160 Where the ‘devil’ first beats the cotton from the bale. 1867 O. W. Holmes Guard. Angel xxv. (1891) 304 To the paper factory, where they have a horrid machine they call the devil, that tears everything to bits. 1870 Eng. Mech. 31 Dec. 610/1 The machine..is called a willow, or willey, vulgarly a devil; it is used principally for opening raw cotton. 1872 Manch. Guardian 24 Sept. (Farmer), Mr. Powell's Bill contains abundant powers for suppressing the vile nuisance known as the American Devil [steam whistle or hooter]. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech., Devil, a machine for making wood screws. a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 691/1 Devil, a machine for making wood screws. 1879 Cassells Techn. Educ. IV. 349/2 [He] dives into the recesses of his skin for the ‘devil’ which is a bunch of matted iron wire. 1880 Times 13 Dec., An instrument called ‘the Devil’ used by foreign fishermen for destroying the fishing nets of English boats on the East coast. 1883 Stonemason Jan., Dried by means of sundry coke fires kept burning in iron grates called ‘devils’, similar to those used by the Gas Company's men in our streets. 1884 Sat. Rev. 12 July 61/1 ‘Devils’..are used to catch sea-trout in America, but Mr. Fitch justly regards ‘devils’ as an unsportsmanlike device. 1886 Pall Mall G. 7 Dec. 10/1 There were exhibited in the court room three Belgian ‘devils’ and three Belgian grapnels which had been captured by Lowestoft fishermen. 1887 Harper's Mag. June 119/1 The devil, a hollow cone with spikes projecting within, against which work the spikes of a drum, dashing the rags about at great speed. 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 72 A herculean metallic disk, grimly named the ‘devil’, armed with steel cutters on its circumference that takes off a pound of shavings at every revolution. 1893 Star 15 July 3/2 The machine for unloading grain..not inaptly named a ‘devil’, will..do the work of four gangs of dock laborers of 12 men each. 1895 Daily Chronicle 7 Jan. 8/3 The match was only brought off at Cardiff by the extraordinary precautions for warming the ground by means of ‘devils’. 1901 Farm, Field & Fireside 13 Dec. 362/2 Large surfaces are dealt with by burning, an instrument called a ‘devil’ being generally employed by painters for ‘burning off’ doors, panels, etc. |
9. a. A name for various highly-seasoned broiled or fried dishes; also for hot ingredients.
| 1786 Craig Lounger No. 86 Make punch, brew negus, and season a devil. 1788 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Peter to Tom Wks. 1812 I. 530 By Devil..I mean a Turkey's Gizzard So christen'd for its quality, by man Because so oft 'tis loaded with Kian. 1820 W. Irving Sketch-bk., L'Envoy (1865) 458 Another holds a curry or a devil in utter abomination. 1828 Smeaton Doings in London (Farmer), The extract of Capsicums or extract of Grains of Paradise is known in the gin-selling trade by the appellation of the Devil. 1830 G. Griffin Collegians xiii, The drumstick of a goose or turkey, grilled and highly spiced, was called a devil. c 1844 Thackeray Mr. & Mrs. Berry ii, The devilled fowl had..no devil in it. 1848 Paddiana (ed. 2) I. 50 Devils were his forte: he imparted a pungent relish to a gizzard or a drumstick that set the assuaging power of drink at defiance. 1889 Boldrewood Robbery under Arms (1890) 327 Let's..have a devil and a glass of champagne. |
b. devils on horseback, angels on horseback (see
angel n. 7); also, a similar dish consisting of a prune or plum wrapped in a bacon-rasher and served on fried bread.
| 1909 in Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1963 R. McDouall Cookery Book 228 Devils on horseback are much the same [as canapés diane], except that a stoned prune is substituted for the chicken-livers. |
10. The name of various forms of fireworks; also ‘a sort of priming made by damping and bruising gunpowder’ (Smyth
Sailors' Word-bk.).
| 1742 Fielding J. Andrews iii. vii, The captain..pinned a cracker or devil to the cassock. 1807 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 135 Like a nest of squibs and devils in a firework. 1809 Naval Chron. XXII. 203 Rockets, infernals, fire-devils. 1836 T. Hook G. Gurney vii, Four devils or wild-fires, such as we were in the habit of making at school. |
11. The name given to sand-spouts or moving columns of sand in India and Eastern countries. Also, a dust-storm in South Africa.
| 1835 A. Burnes Trav. Bokhara (ed. 2) III. 40 Whirlwinds, that raised the dust to a great height, and moved over the plain like water-spouts at sea. In India these phenomena are familiarly known by the name of devils. 1886 Burton Arab. Nts. I. 99 note, Devils, or pillars of sand, vertical and inclined, measuring a thousand feet high, rush over the plain. 1889 Daily News 8 July (Farmer), Clouds of dust..went whirling across the common in spiral cones like desert Devils. 1893 Earl Dunmore Pamirs I. 269 The amount of devils we saw was surprising. (Note) Common in the plains of India, where they are called by the natives Bagoola. English people in India call them ‘devils’. 1897 Baden-Powell Matabele Camp 284 A ‘Devil’ with its roaring pillar of dust and leaves, comes tearing by. 1900 Daily News 3 Apr. 3/1 The ‘dust devils’ that sweep across the blustering plain. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 16 Mar. 3/1 The ‘devil’ in South Africa will pick up boots and tins of sardines, even bottles of whisky and saddle bags. |
12. Short for
devil-bolt: see 24.
| 1873 Plimsoll Our Seamen, an Appeal 37 ‘Oh, devils are sham bolts, you know; that is, when they ought to be copper, the head and about an inch of the shaft are of copper, and the rest is iron’..Seventy-three devils were found in one ship by one of the surveyors of Lloyd's. |
13. Naut. ‘The seam which margins the waterways on a ship's hull’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk.); ‘a seam between the garboard-strake and the keel’ (Funk and Wagnall).
Hence various writers derive the phrase ‘the devil to pay and no pitch hot’; but this is
prob. only a secondary and humorous application of ‘the devil to pay’:
cf. 22 j.
14. a devil of a{ddd}: a diabolical example or specimen of a{ddd}, one (of the things in question) of a diabolical, detestable, or violently irritating kind; passing into a mere intensive,
= a deuced, confounded, very violent. [So F.
diable de.]
| [1749 Fielding Tom Jones xii. vii, You don't know what a devil of a fellow he is.] 1767 S. Paterson Another Trav. I. 345 Running downhill at the devil of a rate. 1794 Scott Let. to Miss Rutherford 5 Sept. in Lockhart, Both within and without doors, it was a devil of a day. 1819 Byron Juan ii. xi, A devil of a sea rolls in that bay. 1822 Shelley in T.L. Peacock's Wks. (1875) III. 477 A devil of a nut it is to crack. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 180 What an outlandish toozy-headed wee sunbrunt deevil o' a lassie that. 1852 R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour liv. 313 We had a devil of a run—I don't know how many miles. 1869 Trollope He Knew liv. (1878) 299 Lead him the very devil of a life. 1890 Besant Demoniac v. 53 There will be a devil of a fight when the time comes. |
15. predicatively: Something as bad as the devil, as bad as can be conceived, the worst that can happen or be met with. [F.
c'est bien le diable,
le diable est que..]
| 1710 Brit. Apollo III. No. 60. 2/2 To quit a Yielding Mistress is the Devil. a 1735 Granville (J.), A war of profit mitigates the evil; But to be tax'd, and beaten, is the devil. 1798 Southey Ballad of Cross Roads 7 In such a sweltering day as this A knapsack is the devil. 1827 Scott Jrnl. 28 June, To be cross-examined by those who have seen the true thing is the devil. 1885 Scribner's Mag. XXX. 734/2 These Southern girls are the very devil. |
16. like the devil,
like devils [F.
comme le diable,
comme tous les diables], beside the more literal sense, sometimes means: With the violence, desperation, cleverness, or other quality attributed to the devil; extremely, excessively:
cf. diabolically. So in similes,
e.g.,
as drunk as the d., diabolically drunk.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. vii. 162 They will eate like Wolues, and fight like Deuils. 1632 Lithgow Trav. viii. 345 The distressed Protestants..over whom they domineered like Divells. 1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. ix. (1809) 106 My horse..pulls like the devil. 1816 Sporting Mag. XLVIII. 39 A man is said to be..when he is very impudent, as drunk as the devil. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Napoleon Wks. (Bohn) I. 378 He disputed like a devil on these two points. |
II. In imprecations, exclamations, proverbs, and phrases.
17. In imprecations, wishes of evil, and the like, as
the devil take him, etc. (
Cf. similar uses with
deuce,
mischief,
pest,
plague,
pox, etc.)
devil take the hindmost: see
hindmost a. 1 b.
| c 1300 Havelok 1188 Godrich hem hatede, þe deuel him hawe! c 1410 Sir Cleges 515 The styward seyd..the dewle hym Born [= burn] on a lowe! c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 175 The dwille he hang you highe to dry! c 1500 Robin Hood & Potter lxxvii. in Child Ballads III. v. cxxi. 113/2 The deyell spede hem, bothe bodey and bon. 1513 Douglas æneis i. Prol. 260 A twenty devill mot fall his werk at anis. 1548 Hall Chron. 14 b, Saiyng, the devill take Henry of Lancastre and the together. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 225 Nay, but the diuell take mocking: speake sadde brow, and true maid. a 1652 Brome Queene's Exch. ii. ii. Wks. 1873 III. 485 Now the Dee'l brast crag of him. 1738 Swift Polite Conv. 129 Here take it, and the D―l do you good with it. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones vii. xii, The devil take my father for sending me thither. 1833 Tennyson Goose, ‘The Devil take the goose, And God forget the stranger!’ |
18. to go to the devil: to go to ruin or perdition. In the imperative, expressing angry impatience, and desire to be rid of the person addressed. So
to wish any one at the devil, etc. [F.
aller, envoyer, donner, être au diable.]
| [c 1394 J. Malverne Contn. Higden (Rolls) IX. 33 Excanduit rex [Rich. II] et..dixit ei [comiti Arundel], ‘Quod si tu mihi imponas..vadas ad diabolum’.] c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surt.) 10 Go to the deville, and say I bad. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon iii. 102 Lete theym go to a hundred thousand devils! 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 178 All his Superstition and Hypocrisie, either is or should be gone to the devill. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 367 They curssed them betwene their teeth, saiyng: Get ye into England, or to the devill. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 102 Ere they could strangle him, he sent three of them to the Devill. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t., Disagreeable People (1852) 121 Whether they are demons or angels in themselves, you wish them..at the devil. 1823 Byron Juan x. lxvi, When a man's country's going to the devil. 1859 H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xxxii, Tom..having told her..to go to the devil. 1881 W. H. Mallock Rom. 19th Cent. I. 219, I wish..the little animal was at the devil. |
† 19. a devil way (
adv.): originally an impatient strengthening of
away (
a being the
prep., varying with
on,
in, and
devele the genitive
pl.,
OE. deofla); further intensified as
a twenty devil way,
on aller or alther (corrupted to all the) devil way,
on aller twenty devil way.
Obs.| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 203/124 Þov worst lif and soule a deuele wei al clene i-nome. c 1320 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 2298 And bad hire go, that ilche dai, On alder twenti deuel wai! c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2177 Ariadne, A twenty develewey the wynd hym dryue. c 1386 ― Reeve's T. 337 And forth he goth a [3 MSS. on, Harl. in] twenty deuel way. c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surt.) 130 Go hens, harlottes, in twenty dewille way, Fast and belyfe! Ibid. 176. |
† b. In later times it appears to have been taken more vaguely, as an expression of impatience, and sometimes
= ‘in the devil's name.’
Obs.| c 1386 Chaucer Miller's Prol. 26 Tel on, a deueleway [v.r. a delewey]. ― Sompn. T. 534 Lat hym go honge hymself a [Harl. on] deuel way. ― Miller's T. 527. ― Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 229. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 776 Go and glad thi gest, In alther [printed all the] devyl way! c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surt.) 10 Sit downe in the dewille way, With thi vayn carpyng. Ibid. 18 Com downe in twenty deville way. ? a 1500 Chester Pl., Deluge 219 Come in, wife, in 20 devills waye, or els stand there without. a 1529 Skelton Wks. I. 336 That all the worlde may say, Come downe, in the devyll way. 1530 Palsgr. 838 In the twenty devyll way, au nom du grant diable. |
20. As an expression of impatience, irritation, strong surprise, dismay, or vexation.
a. After an interrogative word, as
who,
what,
how,
where,
when.
[
App. taken directly from
Fr.;
cf. 12th c.
OF. comment diables! dist li rois au vis fier;
diables being in the nominative (
= vocative case);
mod.F.
que diable faire!; in
ME. also
what devil, about 1600 often
what a devil. Also in
Ger.,
Du.,
Da. and other langs.]
| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2694 Hypermestre, What devel have I with the knyfe to doo? c 1440 York Myst. xxxi. 237 What the deuyll and his dame schall y now doo? c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 114 What the deville is this? he has a long snowte. 1470–85 Malory Arthur x. xlviii, What deuylle doo ye in this Countrey? c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xix. 408 How the devyll dare ye thus speke? 1529 More Dyalogue iii. v. Wks. 214 Why, quod he, what deuill rigour could thei more haue shewed? 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 183 When the diuell will ye come in? 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 355 Who the devill hath sente for them? 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxiii. (Arb.) 274 What a diuell tellest thou to me of iustice? 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. ii. 6 What a diuell hast thou to do with the time of the day? 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. ii. 40 How a Devil will the Pope observe the Decrees of a Councel? 1692 Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. viii. (1851) 184 What the Devil is it to you? 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xv. v, Why, who the devil are you? 1803 tr. Lebrun's Mons. Botte I. 155 What the devil business had she in the store-room? 1819 Byron Juan i. c, And wonders why the devil he got heirs. a 1845 Hood Lullaby ii, What the devil makes him cry? |
b. Used interjectionally, or prefixed to a predication.
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surt.) 67 Dwylle! what may this be? Out, harow, fulle wo is me!..A, fy, and dewyls! whens cam he That thus shuld reyfe me my pawste. 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet B iij, She is dead: the diuell shee is. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. iv. 130 Will you be bound for nothing, be mad good Master, cry the diuell. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 107 ¶13 The Devil! He cried out, Who can bear it? 1832 Blackw. Mag. Jan. 63/1 ‘The Pacha has put twelve ambassadors to death already.’ ‘The devil he has! and I'm sent here to make up the baker's dozen!’ 1854 Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims, Comic Wks. (Bohn) III. 209 ‘That is W,’ said the teacher. ‘The Devil!’ exclaimed the boy, ‘is that W?’ |
21. Expressing strong negation: prefixed to a substantive, as
the devil a bit,
the devil a penny.
| 1508 Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 441 The deuill a gude thou hais! 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. (1877) 132 The Deuill of the one chare of good werke they doen. 1579 Fulke Confut. Sanders 697 ‘Godly images leade vs to spirituall deuotion.’ The Diuel they doe. But if they did, yet not more then the ceremonies of the olde law. c 1590 Marlowe Faust. Wks. (Rtldg.) 90/1 The devil a penny they have left me, but a bare pension. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iii. 159 The diu'll a Puritane that hee is, or any thing constantly. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1811) I. 386 We have an English expression, ‘The Devil he doth it, the Devil he hath it’; where the addition of Devil amounteth only to a strong denial, equivalent to, ‘He doth it not, he hath it not.’ 1708 Motteux Rabelais (1737) V. 221 The Devil-a-Bit he'll see the better. 1710 Brit. Apollo III. No. 78. 3/1 The D―l was Sick, the D― l a Monk would be, the D―l was Well, the D―l a Monk was he. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxvii, The deil a man dares stir you within his bounds. 1832 Examiner 349/1 Devil another word would she speak. |
22. In proverbs and proverbial phrases.
a. the devil and all: Everything right or wrong (especially the wrong); the whole confounded lot; all or everything bad:
cf. also g below. (But sometimes a strengthened form of sense 15.)
| 1543 Bale Yet a Course, Baptyzed bells, bedes, organs..the devyll and all of soche idolatrouse beggery. 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse A iij, Masse thats true: they say the Lawyers haue the deuill and al. 1606 Warner Alb. Eng. xvi. ciii, Be Lawyers, get the Diuell and all. 1689 Hickeringill Ceremony-Monger Wks. 1716 II. 507 He may get the Devil and all of Money, and a Purse as large as his Conscience. 1703 S. Centlivre Love's Contriv. v, If she cou'd steal a husband, she'd have stole the Devil and all of Gallants. 1811 Earl Gower 18 Dec. in C.K. Sharpe's Corr. (1888) I. 508, I begin to fear that the rheumatism has taken possession of your right arm..which would be the devil and all, as the vulgar would say. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xx, I needn't take this devil-and-all trouble to explain matters to you. |
b. between the d. and the deep (formerly also Dead) sea.
| 1637 Monro Exped. ii. 55 (Jam.), I, with my partie, did lie on our poste, as betwixt the devill and the deep sea. 1690 W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 394 Between the devil and the dead sea. 1721 Kelly Sc. Prov. 58 (Jam.) Between the Deel and the deep sea; that is between two difficulties equally dangerous. 1816 [see deil 1]. 1894 H. H. Gibbs Colloquy on Currency 199 You must remember that he was between the devil and the deep sea. |
c. black as the d.,
to paint the d. blacker than he is, and kindred expressions.
give the devil his due: see
due.
| 1596 Lodge Margarite Amer. 84 Divels are not so blacke as they be painted..nor women so wayward as they seeme. 1642 Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 65 For the Devill is not so black as he is painted, no more are these Noble Nations and Townes as they are tainted. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 271 They use their Adversary according to the Proverb, painting the Devill blacker then he is. 1837 A. Fonblanque Eng. under 7 Administ. I. 226 That the Devil of Charles X could be painted blacker than his complexion would prove. |
d. when the d. is blind: at a date infinitely remote, at the Greek calends, or ‘latter Lammas’.
| 1662 Rump Songs (1874) I. 9 But when this comes to passe, say the Devil is blind. c 1702 Bagford Ballads (1876) 74 For we will be Married, When the Devil is Blind. 1725 Bailey Erasm. Colloq. (1877) 216 (D.) They will bring it when the devil is blind [id fiet ad Calendas Græcas]. 1738 Swift Polite Convers. i. (D.), Nev. I'll make you a fine present one of these days. Miss. Ay, when the Devil is blind, and his eyes are not sore yet. |
e. The devil's hostility to the
Cross; sometimes with a play upon ‘cross’ as a coin.
| a 1529 Skelton Bowge of Courte 365 The deuyll myghte daunce therin for any crowche. 1612 Shelton Quix. I. i. vi. 44 It is a common saying—‘The Devil lurks behind the Cross’. 1627 Drayton Agincourt 82 Ill's the precession (and foreruns much losse,) Wherein men say, the Deuill beares the Crosse. 1636 Massinger Bashf. Lover iii. i, The devil sleeps in my pocket: I have no cross To drive him from it. 1726 Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 209 Leaving Room in all our Pockets for the Devil to Dance a Saraband, for we had not one Cross to keep him out. |
† f. the date of the devil is opposed to the date of our Lord; but
in the devil's date is also
= ‘in the devil's name’.
Obs.| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 81 In þe Date of þe deuel þe Deede was a-selet. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 954 What needed that, in the devyls date? a 1529 ― Sp. Parrot 439 Yet the date of ower Lord And the date of the Devyll dothe shrewdlye accord. ― Bowge of Courte 375 In the devils date, What arte thou? |
g. the d. (and all) to do: much ado, a world of trouble or turmoil.
| 1708 Motteux Rabelais v. iii, There was the Devil and all to do. 1711 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 17 Nov., This being queen Elisabeth's birthday, we have the d―and all to do among us. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iii. v, Then there was the devil and all to do: spoons, plates, and dishes flew about the room like mad. 1716 Swift Phillis 39 See here again the devil to do. a 1774 Goldsm. tr. Scarron's Comic Rom. (1775) I. 42 Here had been the devil and all to do. |
h. The devil's aversion to
holy water.
| 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 301 The olde Proverbe how well the Divell loveth holy water. 1738 Swift Polite Convers. 149, I love Mr. N—, as the Devil loves Holy Water. Mod. To hate―, as the devil hates holy water. |
i. as the devil looked over Lincoln.
(Popularly referred to a grotesque sculpture on the exterior of Lincoln Cathedral.)
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 75 Than wold ye looke ouer me, with stomake swolne, Like as the diuel lookt ouer Lincolne. a 1661 Fuller Worthies Oxf. & Linc. Prov. (D.). 1737 Pope Hor. Epist. ii. ii. 245 Yet these are wights who fondly call their own Half that the Devil o'er⁓looks from Lincoln town. 1738 Swift Polite Convers. 86 She looked at me, as the Devil look'd over Lincoln. |
j. the devil to pay.
Supposed to refer to the alleged bargains made by wizards, etc., with Satan, and the inevitable payment to be made to him in the end. It has also been attributed to the difficulty of ‘paying’ or caulking the seam called the ‘devil’, near a ship's keel, whence the expanded form ‘the devil to pay and no pitch hot’. But there is no evidence that this is the original sense, and it has never affected the general use of the proverb.
| 1711 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 28 Sept. (Farmer), And then there will be the devil and all to pay. 1728 Vanbr. & Cib. Prov. Husb. v. i. 93 In comes my Lady Townly here..who..has had the Devil to pay yonder. 1738 Swift Polite Convers. 179, I must be with my Wife on Tuesday, or there will be the Devil and all to pay. 1820 Byron in Moore Life & Lett. (1833) III. 63 There will be the devil to pay, and there is no saying who will or who will not be set down in his bill. 1837 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 72 Had he been laid up at present, there would have been the very devil to pay. 1892 A. Birrell Res Judic. xii. 272 Then, indeed—to use a colloquial expression—there would be the devil to pay. |
k. to play the devil (the very d., the d. and all): to act diabolically, do mischief, make havoc or ruin.
| 1542 Boorde Dyetary ix. (1870) 250 The malt worme playeth the deuyll so fast in the heade. a 1592 Greene Alphonsus 1, Burning towns, and sacking cities fair, Doth play the devil wheresome'er he comes. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 338 Seeme a Saint, when most I play the deuill. 1656 Jeanes Mixt. Schol. Div. 119 The word was incarnate, and shall we play the incarnate Divels? 1811 in Col. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 35, I should have played the devil with his pheasants. 1826 Scott Jrnl. 15 Apr., A bad report from that quarter would play the devil. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xxxviii, Salt water plays the devil with a uniform. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xvi, Your firm and determined intention..to play the very devil with everything and everybody. |
l. speak or talk of the d., and he will appear. Freq. shortened to
talk of the devil;
esp. used in reference to a person who appears unexpectedly when one is talking about him.
| [1591 Lyly Endimion i. iii. 3, O that we had Sir Tophas..in the midst of our myrth, & ecce autem, wyl you see the deuill?] 1666 G. Torriano Piazza Universale 134 The English say, Talk of the Devil, and he's presently at your elbow. 1672 Cataplus, a mock Poem 72 (in Hazlitt Prov.) Talk of the Devil, and see his horns. a 1721 Prior Hans Carvel 71 Forthwith the Devil did appear, For name him and he's always near. 1721 J. Kelly Sc. Prov. 299 Speak of the Dee'l, and he'll appear, spoken when they, of whom we are speaking, come in by Chance. 1738 Swift Polite Conv. 1 He's just coming towards us. Talk of the Devil! 1853 Trench Proverbs vi, To talk as little about the devil..as they can; lest he appear. 1893 G. Allen Scallywag I. 10 ‘Talk of the devil!—Here comes Thiselton!’ 1922 E. O'Neill Anna Christie (1923) i. 9 Speak of the devil. We was just talkin' about you. 1958 G. Greene Our Man in Havana iii. iii. 136 ‘What's the matter, Hasselbacher?’ ‘Oh, it's you, Mr. Wormold. I was just thinking of you. Talk of the devil,’ he said, making a joke of it. |
m. the d. among the tailors: a row going on (see Farmer
Slang Dict. s.v.); also a game.
| 1834 Ld. Londonderry Let. 27 May in Court Will. IV & Victoria (1861) II. iv. 98 Reports are various as to the state of the enemy's camp, but all agree that there is the devil among the tailors. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) II. 17 A game known as the ‘Devil among the tailors’..a top was set spinning on a long board, and the result depended upon the number of men, or ‘tailors’, knocked down by the ‘devil’ (top) of each player. |
n. In other expressions (mostly self-explanatory).
to pull the devil by the tail (F. tirer le diable par la queue): to be in difficulties or straits.
to whip the devil round the stump (
U.S.): ‘to get round or dodge a difficulty or dilemma by means of a fabricated excuse or explanation’ (
Cent. Dict.) See also
drive v. 1 b,
needs adv. d,
spoon n. 3 a.
| 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 26 Every man for himselfe, and the Devill for us all, catche that catche maie. a 1555 Ridley Wks. 10 It is also a true common proverb, that it is even sin to lie upon the devil. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 60, I will not beare the diuels sacke, by saint Audry. 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. 11 (1586) 79 The Proverbe, That the divell is full of knowledge, because he is olde. 1593 Pass. Morrice 74 Like will to like, quoth the Devell to the Collier. 1599 Minsheu Dial. Sp. & Eng. (1623) 35/2 Let us not give the divell his dinner. 1606 J. Day Isle of Guls sig. D4v, You were worse then the deuil els, for they say hee helps his seruants. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Retirer, To giue a thing and take a thing; to weare the diuells gold-ring. 1615 Swetnam Arraignm. Wom. (1880) p. xvi, They will finde that they haue but the Deuill by the foote. 1661 A. Brome Songs & Other Poems 136 The Devil's ever kind to his own. 1687 Congreve Old Bach. i. iv, Ay there you've nicked it—there's the devil upon devil. 1690 W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 49 What is got over the devil's back is spent under his belly. a 1704 T. Brown Wks. (1760) II. 194 (D.) We became as great friends as the Devil and the Earl of Kent. ― Ibid. III. 245 (D.) The devil and nine-pence go with her, that's money and company, according to the..adage. 1708 Motteux Rabelais iv. xxxiii. (1737) 138 There will be the Devil upon Dun. This is a worse Business than that t'other Day. c 1708 W. King Art of Love iii. 82 She'd run, As would the Devil upon Dun. 1709 Brit. Apollo II. No. 56. 3/2 At Play 'tis often said, When Luck returns—The Devil's dead. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton i. (1840) 8 He that is shipped with the devil must sail with the devil. 1738 Swift Polite Conv. 182 Well, since he's gone, the Devil go with him and Sixpence; and there's Money and Company too. Ibid. 13 It rain'd, and the Sun shone at the same time.. Why, then the Devil was beating his Wife behind the Door, with a Shoulder of Mutton. Ibid. 159, I beg your Pardon: but they say, the Devil made Askers. Ibid. 200 As great as Cup and Can.. Ay, Miss; as great as the Devil and the Earl of Kent. 1806 [see good a. 7 a]. 1822 Byron Werner v. i. 427 Father, do not raise The devil you cannot lay between us. a 1832 Bentham Wks. (1838–43) X. 25 So fond of spending his money on antiquities, that he was always pulling the devil by the tail. 1837 F. Chamier Arethusa II. i. 13 Weazel was the only midshipman saved besides myself: the devil always takes care of his own. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg., ‘St. Dunstan’, The Devil, they say, 'Tis easier at all times to raise than to lay. 1846 Whately Rhetoric (ed. 7) Additions 14 Various evasions and equivocations, such as are vulgarly called ‘cheating the Devil’. 1855 Tennyson Maud i. i. xix, I will bury myself in myself, and the Devil may pipe to his own. 1857 Trollope Barchester T. II. vii. 123 ‘Better the d― you know than the d― you don't know,’ is an old saying. 1857 N.Y. Evening Post (Bartlett), There, you are now whipping the devil around the stump! 1892 Hon. E. Blake in Daily News 5 Aug. 3/4 Time enough to bid the Devil good morning when you meet him. 1940 R. A. J. Walling Why did Trethewy Die? vii. 195 The devil looks after his own. 1960 Times 30 Jan. 3/3 They are probably wise to leave well alone on the devil-you-know principle. |
o. Other phrases see under leading words, as
to hold a candle to the d., the d. and his dam,
the d. in the horologe, etc.
III. attrib. and
Comb. 23. General combinations.
a. ‘devil’
in apposition, as
devil-god,
devil-jailor,
devil-monk,
devil-porter, etc. Hence as
vb. to devil-porter it, to be devil-porter.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. iii. 19 Ile Deuill-Porter it no further. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God iv. xvi, Such a rable of divill-gods. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, ii. i. 21 That Diuell Monke, Hopkins. 1625–6 Shirley Maid's Rev. v. iii, My eldest devil-sister! 1629 ― Wedding iii. i, Thy devil jailor May trust thee without a waiter. 1892 B. F. C. Costelloe Church Catholic 13 A Devil-giant coercing hapless lives. |
b. attrib. and
objective genitive, as
devil-hive,
devil-master,
devil-work;
devil-conjurer,
devil-drawer,
devil-driver,
devil-extractor.
| 1535 Coverdale Dan. ii. 27 The sorcerer, the charmer nor the deuell coniurer. 1682 Hickeringill Black Non-Conf. Wks. 1716 II. 42 The Pope would be a Devil-driver too. a 1700 B.E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Devil-drawer, a sorry Painter. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. ii. (1840) 51 Any sorcery or devil-work. 1749 G. Lavington Enthus. Meth. & Papists (1820) 319 These men, who are called enchanters, devil-drivers, and prophesiers. 1823 Bentham Not Paul 321 Fear of the more skilful devil-master. 1849 Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. Ser. ii. 400 They struggled till fire issued from eyes, nostrils, and mouth of the poor devil-hive. 1886 Pall Mall G. 29 Dec. 6/2 A refusal to pay the fee charged by a ‘devil extractor’ for the cure of a mental disease. |
c. instrumental and
parasynthetic, as
devil-born,
devil-driven,
devil-haired,
devil-haunted,
devil-inspired,
devil-possessed devil-ridden, etc.
adjs.| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 17 The Asse..is..phrased with many epithets..as slow..idle, devil-haired. 1829 Southey Sir T. More II. 108 Men become priest-ridden or devil-ridden. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xcvi, You tell me, doubt is devil-born. 1860 Ld. Lytton Lucile ii. v, Scorn and hate..are devil born things. 1888 Catholic Press 16 June 125/1 A devil-inspired cult. 1898 Kipling in Spectator 2 July 15/2 Afraid of the devil-haunted beach of noises. 1899 Daily News 20 Sept. 3/3 Then came the famous devil-possessed district. 1906 R. Whiteing Ring in New ix. 59 The devil-driven and purposeful way in which people do most things in this part of the world. 1922 W. B. Yeats Trembling of Veil ii. viii. 108 The only Young Ireland politician who had music and personality, though rancorous and devil-possessed. 1926 M. Leinster Dew on Leaf ii. i, Jack is lonely, wretched, devil-driven. |
d. objective, as
devil-driving, etc.
| 1707 J. Stevens Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 327 There is a Devil ferking Priest. |
24. Special combinations.
devil-bolt, a sham bolt (see 12); ‘a bolt with false clenches, often introduced into contract-built ships’ (Smyth
Sailor's Word-bk.);
devil-carriage,
-cart, a carriage for moving heavy ordnance;
† devil-cleper (
obs.), one who invokes the devil, an enchanter;
devil-crab, the velvet crab,
Portunus puber;
= lady-crab (
lady n. 16);
devil dance, the dance of a devil-dancer;
devil-dancer, an Indian votary, akin to the Dancing Dervishes; so
devil-dancing;
devil-dare a. = dare-devil;
devil-dealer, one who has dealings with the devil, a sorcerer;
devil-devil, (
a) in Australian folk-lore, a devil, an evil spirit; (
b)
Austral. slang (see
quot. 1933);
devil float, a tool for roughening the surface of plaster;
devil-in-a-bush, a garden flower,
Nigella damascena, so called ‘from its horned capsules peering from a bush of finely-divided involucre’ (Prior);
devil liquor (see
quot. 1912);
devil-monger = devil-dealer;
devil-on-both-sides, a local name of the corn crowfoot (
Ranunculus arvensis), in allusion to its prickly horned capsules;
devil-on-the-coals Austral. slang, a small damper hastily baked in hot ashes;
devil on two sticks, a wooden toy in the form of an hour-glass or double cone, which is made to spin in the air by means of a string attached to two sticks held in the hands;
cf. diabolo;
devil-shrieker,
-skriker, local name of the Swift: see sense 7 b;
devil-tree, an apocynaceous tree (
Alstonia scholaris) of India, Africa, and Australia, having a powerfully bitter bark and milky juice;
devil-ward a. and adv., towards or in the direction of the devil;
devil-wise adv., after the manner of a devil;
devil-wood,
Osmanthus americanus, family Oleaceæ, a small N. American tree with wood of extraordinary toughness and heaviness;
devil-worship, the worship or cult of the devil, or of a demon or malignant deity; so
devil-worshipper,
-worshipping;
devil-wort, a plant. Also,
devil-bird, -dodger, -fish, etc.
| 1894 Daily News 30 Nov. 7/5 The ‘*devil-bolt’ swindle must have been the death of many a brave crew. |
| 1828 J. M. Spearman Brit. Gunner 50 *Devil Carriages, large, limber, small. Ibid. 426 Devil carriage, 7 ft.; Sling cart, 5 ft. 6 in. |
| 1797 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. VII. p. cxxxix, I want..two or three artillerymen to fix the fusees, and a *devil-cart. |
| 1382 Wyclif Isa. xlvii. 9 The huge hardnesse of thi *deuel-cleperes. |
| 1871 C. Darwin Desc. Man ii. ix. 269 When a *Devil-crab (Portunus puber) was seen..fighting with a Carcinus mœnas, the latter was soon thrown on its back. 1899 Strand Mag. June 655/2 Prickly devil-crabs. |
| 1849 R. Caldwell Tinnevelly Shanars 19 The musical instruments..chiefly used in the *devil-dance are the tom-tom..and the horn. 1901 Kipling Kim ix. 212 He had seen devil-dance masks at the Lahore Museum. Ibid. x. 248 Devil dances, and spells and charms. 1930 G. Knight Intim. Glimpses Myster. Tibet 29 The Devil Dances of Tibet..represent either some historical, legendary, or mythological event. |
| 1887 Pall Mall G. 14 Sept. 14/1 They were followed by the *devil-dancers, who were terribly affected. |
| 1871 S. Mateer Travancore (1872) 214 Connected with this is what is called *devil-dancing, in which the demoniacal possession is sought. |
| 1857 tr. Dumas' Three Musketeers ii. 14/2 His soldiers formed a *devil-dare legion. |
| 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. i. (1840) 32 The magicians were not all sorcerers and *devil-dealers. |
| 1900 H. Lawson Over Sliprails 108 Black Jimmie shifted away from the hut [of the dead woman]..for the ‘*devil-devil’ sat down there. 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Dec. 34/1 The alternation of wet seasons or floodings on the one hand and of droughts on the other induces characteristic alternations of depressions and rises in heavy soils. These have received various local names, of which melonhole, gilgai, Bay of Biscay, devil-devil and crab-hole are the most frequently met. 1954 B. Miles Stars my Blanket xvii. 117 It's full of skulls, that cave is. Can't get a blackfella near it. They say the devil-devil's in it. |
| 1939 *Devil float [see devil v. 6]. |
| 1767 J. Abercrombie Ev. Man his own Gardener Index, *Devil-in-a-bush. 1815 Elphinstone Acc. Caubul (1842) I. 95 A plant very common about Peshawer, which much resembles that..called Devil in the bush. |
| 1912 Thorpe Dict. Appl. Chem. (ed. 2) I. 149/1 The aqueous condensate obtained by cooling the waste gases [from ammonium sulphate manufacture] is a very noxious-smelling liquid, and is hence termed ‘*devil-liquor’. It contains sulphuretted hydrogen, pyridines, and similar substances, and hydrocyanic acid, and is also difficult to dispose of. 1930 Engineering 5 Sept. 311/3 The evaporation of the devil liquor or the aqueous condensates. |
| 1843 Lytton Last Bar. i. vii, Those *devil-mongers can bake ye a dozen such every moment. |
| 1878 Britten & Holland Plant-n. 148 *Devil on both sides or Devil o' both sides, Ranunculus arvensis L. Bucks., Durh., Warw. |
| 1862 A. Polehampton Kangaroo Land 77 Instead of damper we occasionally made what is colonially known as ‘*devils on the coals’. |
| 1864 Atkinson Prov. Names Birds, *Devil-skriker (Yorks.). |
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 45 Alstonia scholaris, called *Devil-tree or Pali-mara about Bombay. |
| 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. (1857) I. ii. i. iv. 250 And tended either godward or else *devilward. |
| 1631 Cornwallyes Ess. ii. xlix. 308 And *devill-wise labour for nothing but to make all soules levell with theirs. |
| 1818 A. L. Hillhouse tr. Michaux's N. Amer. Sylva II. 153 Olea Americana..belongs exclusively to the Southern States, the Floridas and Lower Louisiana;..it has hitherto received no name from the inhabitants of the country, except on the banks of the river Savannah, where it is called *Devil Wood. 1832 D. J. Browne Sylva Amer. 225 The wood..when perfectly dry—is excessively hard and very difficult to cut and split—hence is derived the name of Devil Wood. 1938 W. R. Van Dersal Native Woody Plants U.S. 175 Devilwood..often occurs in sandy soil. |
| 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. vi. 138 Idolatry and *devil-worship. 1727 ― Syst. Magic i. iii. 69 To introduce Devil-worship in the world. |
| 1879 M. Conway Demonology & Devil-lore I. 137 The *devil-worshippers of Travancore to this day declare that the evil power approaches them in the form of a Dog. |
| 1726 De Foe Hist. Devil ii. xi. 353 Wormwood, storax, *devil-wort, mandrake, nightshade. |
25. The possessive,
devil's, has somewhat specialized uses as expressing things supposed to belong to or be in the power of the devil; hence it is used in opposition to
God's, as
devil's martyr,
matins, paternosters; and sometimes, like
devilish, as an intensive qualification of that which is evil, violent, or excessive. [
Cf. F.
un froid de diable, un vent de tous les diables.]
It is also used of natural or prehistoric works attributed to Satanic agency, as
Devil's bridge,
dike,
punch-bowl, etc.
| ? 12.. Charter in Cod. Dipl. IV. 231 Þurgh ðes defles lore. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 475 Foure of the deueles limes, [h]is kniȝtes hurde this. 1530 Palsgr. 214/2 Divelles worke, diablerie. 1675 Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 592 Balaam..who was the devil's hackney. 1820 Scott Ivanhoe xx, What devil's matins are you after at this hour? 1827 ― Jrnl. 16 Mar., I had the devil's work finding them. 1854 G. J. Whyte-Melville Gen. Bounce xv. (Farmer), His wives..yowlin', and cryin', and kickin' up the devil's delight. 1859 H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn v, We had better be as comfortable as we can this devil's night. 1863 Reade Hard Cash I. 278 (Farmer) What business have you in the Captain's cabin, kicking up the devil's delight? 1884 E. M. Beal in Gd. Words May 323/1 The newly discovered ‘devil's liquor’, starch. |
b. Special phrases.
devil's advocate (L.
advocatus diaboli), one who urges the devil's plea against the canonization of a saint, or in opposition to the honouring of any one; hence, one who advocates the contrary or wrong side, or injures a cause by his advocacy; so
devil's advocacy;
devil's bedpost (see
quots.);
devil's bones, an appellation of dice;
devil's cow, a black beetle;
devil's darning-needle (
U.S.)
= devil's needle (see also c);
devil's dirt,
devil's dung, asafœtida;
devil's dozen: see
dozen;
devil's finger, a belemnite;
devil's fingers, the star-fish;
devil's grip colloq., pleurodynia;
devil's horse U.S., the praying mantis;
devil's mint, a succession of things hurtful or offensive, as if the devil himself were at work coining them (Forby);
† devil's missionary N.Z. (see
quots.);
devil's needle, provincial name of the dragon-fly; ‘
Devil's Own’, a pet name of the 88th Foot (
the Devil's own Connaught boys); also of the Inns of Court Rifle Corps of Volunteers;
devil's picture(d)-books,
picture-gallery or
pictures colloq. = devil's books;
devil's sheaf: see
quot.;
devil's tattoo: see
tattoo;
devil's toe-nail, a belemnite. Also
devil's-bird,
claw, etc.
| 1760 Impostors Detected II. 128 By..playing the true part of the *Devil's advocate. 1885 J. Bonar Malthus i. i. 7 The father made it a point of honour to defend the Enquirer; the son played devil's advocate. 1887 R. Buchanan Heir of Linne ii, Even the Socialist party regarded him as a devil's advocate, and washed their hands of him. |
| 1854 Maurice Philos. First Six Cent. (ed. 2) v. 119 The claims of Proclus to canonisation in spite of our *devil-advocacy. 1892 A. Birrell Res Judic. iv. 108 There is just enough of..truth in it, to make it one of the most powerful bits of devil's advocacy ever penned. |
| 1873 Slang Dict., *Devil's bed-posts, the four of clubs. 1879 N. & Q. 5th Ser. XII. 473, I have always heard the four of clubs called the devil's bed-post, and also that it is the worst turn-up one could have. |
| 1664 G. Etherege Comical Revenge ii. iii (Farmer), I do not understand dice..hang the *devil's bones. 1822 Scott Nigel xxiii, A gamester, one who deals with the devil's bones. |
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 213/1 Blind Beetles..are generally known to us by the name of..*Devils cows. |
| 1854 Putnam's Monthly June (Bartlett), Now and then..a *devil's-darning-needle would pertinaciously hover about our heads. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. cxii. 304 Called..in Englishe also Assa fetida; in high Douche Teufels dreck, that is to say *Deuilles durt. |
| 1604 Dekker Honest Wh. Wks. 1873 II. 40 The *Divels dung in thy teeth! 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 237 Asafœtida is sometimes called by the name of devil's dung. |
| 1888 Amer. Jrnl. Med. Sci. XCVI. 490 So agonizing was this pain that it was nicknamed the ‘*devil's grip’ by a sufferer from the disease in Rappahannock County, Virginia, and this name became a common one there afterwards. 1924 Ibid. CLXVIII. 569 Devil's grip..is certainly due to an acute infection, and the recurrences seem like those of a protozoan infection. 1962 Daily Tel. 21 Nov. 1/3 Mr. Duncan Sandys..has Bornholm disease, it was said last night. The disease is also known as ‘Devil's Grip’. |
| 1883 Sweet & Knox Through Texas (1884) xliv. 629 Another of the most peculiar and interesting insects in Texas is called the ‘*devil's horse’. 1937 Nature 14 Aug. 264/1 Less graceful but fascinating are the devil's-horses, a showy grasshopper commonly six inches long which travels over the land by the million devouring vegetation as it goes. |
| 1837 E. G. Wakefield Brit. Colonization N.Z. ii. 31 [The lawless renegade Englishmen] really deserve a name which has been given them—that of ‘*Devil's missionaries’. 1839 Colonial Gaz. xxix. 474 [Low types, vagabonds, etc.,] devil's missionaries as they are appropriately called. |
| 1857 Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 316 On Moosehead I had seen a large *devil's-needle half a mile from the shore. 1871 Staveley Brit. Insects 128 The swift approach of one of these glittering ‘devil's needles’. |
| 1864 M. Lemon Jest Bk. 211 (Farmer) At a review of the volunteers..the *devil's own walked straight through. 1893 Pall Mall G. 21 Jan. 2/3 ‘What! what!’ exclaimed his Majesty [George III. in 1803], ‘all lawyers! all lawyers! Call them the Devil's Own—call them the Devil's Own’..the fighting gentlemen of the long robe have been the ‘Devil's Own’ ever since. |
| 1786 Burns Twa Dogs 226 They..wi' crabbit leuks Pore ower the *devil's pictur'd beuks. 1913 D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers i. 20 Morel never in his life played cards,..‘the devil's pictures’, he called them! 1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 31 My father..jocularly referred to the cards as the Devil's picture-gallery. 1964 A. Wykes Gambling vii. 161 Some old shipmasters won't allow ‘the devil's picture-books’ aboard. |
| 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) v. Introd. 25/1 Make ye the poore men your frendes of the *deuyllessheyf eyther richesses of wyckednesse. |
| 1847 Ansted Anc. World ix. 190 The Belemnite has..various local names (such as thunderbolt, *devil's toe-nail). |
c. esp. in popular names of plants;
devil's apple, the thorn apple (
Datura Stramonium);
devil's apron, a popular name in the United States of species of
Laminaria and other olive-brown sea-weeds with a large dilated lamina;
devil's brushes, a general name for ferns in the ‘Black Country’ (Britt. &
Holl.);
devil's candlestick, the fungus
Phallus impudicus; the ground-ivy (Midland Counties);
devil's club, a prickly araliaceous plant,
Fatua horrida, found in the north-western
U.S.;
devil's coach-wheel,
d. curry-comb, corn crowfoot (Hants);
devil's cotton, an East Indian tree,
Abroma, the fibres of which are made into cordage;
devil's darning-needle,
Scandix Pecten Veneris;
devil's ear (
U.S.), a species of wake-robin (
Arum);
devil's fig, the prickly pear;
devil's garter, the bindweed,
Convolvulus sepium;
devil's horn,
Phallus impudicus;
devil's leaf, a very virulent species of stinging nettle,
Urtica urentissima, found in Timor;
devil's oatmeal,
d. parsley, wild chervil,
Anthriscus sylvestris;
devil's posy, ramsons,
Allium ursinum;
devil's snuff-box, the puff-ball;
devil's stink-pot,
Phallus impudicus. Also
devil's-bit, claws,
milk.
| 1846 Sowerby Brit. Bot. VI. 104 *Devil's Apple. |
| 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. vii. (1883) 142 Washed up on one of the beaches in company with *devil's-aprons, bladder-weeds, dead horse-shoes. |
| 1891 Proc. R. Geog. Soc. Feb. 78 That unpleasant plant, growing to the height of a man's chest, known as the *devil's club, and covered with fine loose barbed prickles. |
| 1851 S. Judd Margaret (ed. 2) II. v. 66 There are berries in the woods, the scarlet *devil's ear and blue dracira. |
| 1795 Southey Lett. fr. Spain (1808) II. 38, I saw the prickly pear, or as it is called here the *devil's fig. |
| 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 94 A nettle called daoun setan, or *devil's leaf, in Timor; the effects of which are said..to last for a year, and even to cause death. |
| 1883 R. Turner in Gd. Words Sept. 589/2 The puff-balls are known in Scotland as ‘de'il's sneeshin' mills’ (*devil's snuff-boxes). 1884 Cheshire Gloss., Devil's snuff-box, puff-ball. |
▪ II. devil, v. (
ˈdɛv(ə)l,
ˈdɛvɪl)
[f. devil n.] † 1. to devil it: to play the devil, to act like the devil.
Obs.| 1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 158 In the euillest of euill functions, which is, in diuelling it simply. |
† b. trans. To play the devil with, to ruin.
Obs.| 1652 Benlowes Theoph. ii. xv, The Serpent devil'd Eve. |
c. allusive nonce-wd.| 1698 Vanbrugh Prov. Wife iv. iv. 89 Lady B. The devil's hands! Let me go! Sir J. I'll devil you, you jade you! |
2. trans. To grill with hot condiments.
| 1800 [see devilled 2]. 1817 T. L. Peacock Melincourt xxiii, If the carp be not caught, let me be devilled like a biscuit after the second bottle. 1831 E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son I. 291 Come Louis, devil us a biscuit. a 1845 Hood Tale of Temper vi, He..felt in his very gizzard he was devill'd! 1870 Ramsay Remin. iv. (ed. 18) 83 One of the legs should be deviled. |
3. intr. To act as ‘devil’ to a lawyer or literary man; to do professional work for another without fee, or without recognition.
| 1864 Athenæum No. 1921. 232/2 He devils for the counsel on both sides. 1880 Social Notes 20 Nov. 243/2 This unjust system is termed ‘devilling’, and those who appear in cases for which others are retained, at the sole request of the latter, are called ‘devils’, whilst the original holders of transferred briefs may be styled ‘devilees.’..As long as briefless barristers consent to ‘devil’, so long will the abuse flourish, to the disadvantage of the public and the Bar. 1889 Sat. Rev. 9 Feb. 159/2 He must have chambers and a clerk, or a share of both. He must be ready and willing to ‘devil’. |
b. trans. To do (work) as a ‘devil’.
| 1887 Cornh. Mag. Jan. 62 Allowing me to devil his work for him for ten years. |
c. To entrust to a ‘devil’ or private deputy.
| 1891 Leach Southwell Minster (Camden) 22 note, Of course he ‘devilled’ his duties, and equally of course the ‘devil’ neglected them. |
4. trans. To tear to pieces (rags, old cloth, etc.) with a machine called a devil. See
devilling 2.
5. To worry (someone) excessively; to harass, annoy, tease. Chiefly
U.S. colloq.| 1823 W. Faux Mem. Days 216 Go..tell our great Father, the President, how we are deviled and cheated. 1883 Sweet & Knox Through Texas (1884) iii. 47 They devilled the poor fellow almost to death. 1940 C. McCullers Heart is Lonely Hunter (1943) i. iii. 42 Sometimes it was fun to devil Portia. 1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) iii. 48 A man with any push would form a progress association and devil the shire council about the roads. |
6. To scratch or score the surface of (plaster) to provide a rough surface for the next coat.
| 1939 Archit. Rev. LXXXV. 212 All these materials..should be covered with a pricking-up coat, well scratched, a floating coat, ‘devilled’ with a ‘devil float’, and a finishing coat, hard trowelled. |