deiln.
1. The Devil: esp. according to the popular conception of his appearance and attributes.For the Biblical Satan, the usual form is deevil.
ΚΠ
1568 W. Dunbar in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1928) II. 296 Off all his dennar..His breist held deill [?a1513 neuer] a bitt.
1570 Sempill Ballates (1872) 117 The mekle Deill.
1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd iii. ii Awa! awa! the deil's [v.r. deel's] ower grit wi' you.
1786 R. Burns Poems 56 I'm sure sma' pleasure it can gie, Ev'n to a deil.
1790 R. Burns Tam o' Shanter 78 in Poems & Songs (1968) II. 559 That night, a child might understand, The Deil had business on his hand.
1816 W. Scott Old Mortality iv, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. IV. 87 Being atween the deil and the deep sea.
2. A mischievously wicked or troublesome fellow; one who embodies the spirit of wickedness or mischief.
ΚΠ
1786 R. Burns Twa Dogs xxxiii, in Poems 21 They're a run deils an' jads thegither.
1827 W. Scott Bonnie Dundee in London Lit. Gaz. 8 Dec. 786/3 The town is weel quit of that de’il of Dundee.
1894 N.E.D. at Deil Mod. Sc. He's an awfu' laddie, a perfit deil.
3. For deil a bit, and other phrases, see devil n.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
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n.1568- post-homeric
- post-horn
- post-horn band
- post-horn pond snail
- post-horn solo
- post-horse
- post-house
- post-human
- post-humanism
- post-humanist
- post-humian
- post-hypnotic
- post-hypnotic suggestion
- post-ibsen
- post-ibsenist
- post-ideological
- post-imperial
- post-impressionism
- post-impressionist
- post-impressionistic
- post-incarnation
- post-independence
- post-industrial
- post-industrialism
- post-infective