go-deviln.
/ˈɡəʊdɛvl/, U.S. /ˈɡoʊˌdɛvəl/ Originally and chiefly U.S.
1. U.S. colloquial. App: a figure resembling a devil or a person disguised as one. Also: an evil spirit. Now rare.The sense of quot. 1835 is uncertain. In its context, a description of a schoolboy's drawing of animals, it could conceivably be sense 5.
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society > leisure > sport > player or sportsperson > [noun] > other players
server1585
free agent1649
benchwarmer1662
puncher1681
sticker1779
hard hitter1790
hitter1813
go-devil1835
beneficiaire1841
colt1846
heavyweight1857
stayer1862
left-hander1864
attack1869
cap1879
international1882
roadman1886
big leaguer1887
homester1887
sand lotter1887
badger1890
internationalist1892
repeater1893
anchorman1895
grandstander1896
stylist1897
homebrew1903
letterman1905
toss-loser1906
fouler1908
rookie1908
mudder1912
sharpshooter1912
pro-amateur1919
receiver1919
southpaw1925
freestyler1927
hotshot1927
active1931
all-timer1936
iceman1936
wild card1940
scrambler1954
rounder1955
franchise1957
call-up1960
trialist1960
non-import1964
sandbagger1965
rebel1982
wide-body1986
1835 Knickerbocker Apr. 273 The latter [sc. dragons as depicted in a drawing] would be led on by what they call in school-sports a go-devil, prancing about in high horns, and a spear on the end of his tail.
1950 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. No. 14. 32 [S. Carolina.] Go-devil,..an evil spirit, supposed to roam the woods at night, uttering weird cries.
2.
a. Agriculture. A cultivator (cultivator n. 1b), esp. one on runners. Now historical.
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the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > [noun] > machine for making or cleaning ditches
ditching-machine1838
ditcher1847
go-devil1852
ditching-plough1874
trencher1947
1852 1st Ann. Rep. Indiana State Board Agric. 195 The proper method of culture, as adopted by most eastern farmers, (who have satisfied themselves with the ability of the shovel plow, or ‘go-devil’,) is to plow very deep.
1931 Walters (Okla.) Herald 19 Feb. 6/4 Farm Implements (advt.) 1 2-row go-devil.
1937 Econ. Geogr. 13 162/1 The extensive-type farm machinery is used, including two-row listers, two-row ‘go-devils’ (a machine that is drawn in the furrows with knives attached on the sides for cutting into the ridges to destroy weeds), and cultivators.
1946 Harper's Mag. Dec. 526/2 The first rod weeders were of the non-rotating or ‘dead rod’ type, locally called ‘goosenecked rod slickers’ and ‘go-devils’.
1954 F. X. Tolbert Bigamy Jones 122 My cousin..and I were put to running go-devils—which were rather crude sleds with weed-cutting knives attached to the runners.
b. Forestry. A sled on which timber may be hauled.
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the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > lumbering > [noun] > lumbering equipment > log-hauling engine or contrivance
carry-log1775
skidder1870
go-devil1871
yarder1911
1871 Trans. Wisconsin State Agric. Soc. 1870 9 373 When the timber is near the stream..the logs are usually hauled on a crotch or travis, called sometimes ‘go-devil’, to which a team is hitched with a chain, one end of the log dragging upon the ground.
1905 Terms Forestry & Logging (Bull. U.S. Dept. Agric., Bureau Forestry, No. 61) 36 Dray, a single sled used in dragging logs. One end of the logs rests upon the sled..Syn[onyms].: bob, crotch, drag sled, go-devil, lizard, scoot, skidding sled, sloop, travois.
1931 Randolph Enterprise (Elkins, W. Va.) 1 Jan. 1/1 We had to [open the roads]..with..sleighs, ‘Yankee Jumpers’ and ‘Go Devils’.
1968 E. Buckler Ox Bells & Fireflies 51 The moment after the last yellow birch in the last woodpile on the mountain slope had been piled on to the go-devil.
2013 S. Leslie New Horse-powered Farm xvii. 283/1 Elevating the hitch end of the log on a go-devil reduced ground contact, friction, and motion resistance.
c. Agriculture. Any of various kinds of rake or scraper; esp. a large, wheeled horse-drawn rake; a buck rake. Now historical.
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the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > harvesting equipment > [noun] > rake for gathering hay
go-devil1885
1885 Harper's Mag. June 14/2 The graceful ‘go-devil’ rake,..gathering up the hay with all the ease of a lady's carpet~sweeper.
1961 Amer. Speech 36 268 A rather confusing situation exists with regard to go-devil in Colorado... Several times it clearly means ‘buck rake’.
2006 H. Page Dust, Drugs & Depression 50 I rode occasionally on a go-devil, a horse drawn piece of equipment for bucking hay and delivering it to the stacker and the stack.
d. U.S. regional. A small vehicle used by railway workers; spec. a handcar. Now historical.
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > inspection or maintenance vehicle
handcar1833
go-devil1893
speeder1905
scooter1917
1893 Kansas Univ. Q. 1 139 Go-devil... A work wagon used in street railway construction.
1913 R. Beach Iron Trail 185 Gordon had laid several hundred yards of light rails upon his grade, and on these he had mounted a device on the nature of a ‘go-devil’ or skip, which he shunted back and forth by means of a donkey-engine and steel cable.
1975 J. Gould Maine Lingo 110 The pump-lever handcar used by railroad section men is a go-devil.
e. U.S. colloquial. (An ad hoc name for) any mechanical device, typically a makeshift one designed for rapid motion. Now rare.
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1896 Amer. Angler Sept. 317/2 Swish through the air would swing the ‘go devil’. When the reel began to sing and the ‘go devil’ splash, a rush would come, and then a strike.
1900 Railway & Engin. Rev. 28 July 418/2 George Fritz built..a ‘turning over and sliding from pass to pass’ device, christened by the mill hands a ‘go-devil’, which permitted the economic handling of larger ingots.
1911 Pacific Monthly Apr. 397/2 He..planned his coup d'état, styled by him a ‘go devil’. This he built by lashing together the running gears of two of the captured supply wagons and erecting, on their rear, an eight-foot breastwork of logs.
1937 M. Sandoz Slogum House 315 The construction of go-devils to skim the grasshoppers from the young stand [of corn].
1958 W. F. McCulloch Woods Words 71 Go-devil, a vehicle for which a better name is lacking.
1961 Amer. Speech 36 268 A rather confusing situation exists with regard to go-devil in Colorado. One informant even explains the word as a generic term for ‘all kinds of contraption’.
2008 P. Blair & D. H. Prater Sheridan iii. 52 (caption) Heald was known for riding his high-wheeled bicycle, called a go-devil. He passed away in 1923.
3. Oil Industry. A heavy piece of metal that is dropped into a well to detonate a charge previously placed in it. Now historical.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > oil and natural gas recovery equipment > [noun] > other equipment
go-devil1881
well conductor1945
heave compensator1975
1881 Indian Jrnl. (Muskogee, Indian Territory) 14 July I stood with the ‘go-devil’, a four-flanged iron casting, in one hand and my watch in the other hand... ‘Let her drop!’ shouted Kuhn.
1910 A. B. Thompson Petroleum Mining & Oil Field Devel. v. 227 The blow is usually administered to the firing head by a ‘go-devil’, a piece of cast iron with wings to guide it fairly on the cap of the firing head.
1955 Lima (Ohio) News 25 Nov. 35/3 She recalls fondly that some of the oilmen tried to get her to drop the ‘go-devil’, packed with nitroglycerine, to set off an oil well near Bradner where she lived from 1885 to 1914.
2008 L. G. Johnson Tar Creek ii. 119 The ‘go-devil’ as it was called ignited the nitroglycerin to open the well and release any crude oil trapped below.
4. A device that can be sent into a pipeline to scour it as it is pushed along. Cf. pig n.1 16, rabbit n.1 6b.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > oil and natural gas recovery equipment > [noun] > clearing device
scratcher1877
torpedo1877
catch-alla1884
go-devil1885
society > occupation and work > equipment > oil and natural gas recovery equipment > [noun] > pipe-line > devices for laying or clearing
go-devil1885
scraper1897
pig1949
rabbit1949
laybarge1956
1885 Goshen Times 24 Sept. 2/5 The Senator remarked that he would sell himself for a nickel at the next station, where the pipe lines crossed, to be used as a ‘go-devil’ for cleaning out the pipes.
1896 B. Redwood Treat. Petroleum II. 473 To remove obstructions in the pipes..an automatic rotary scraper is forced through... The scraper is known as a ‘go-devil’.
1913 V. B. Lewes Oil Fuel 90 This automatic scraper, called a ‘go-devil’, rotates as it passes forward and scrapes the pipe clean from deposits.
1949 Our Industry (Anglo-Iranian Oil Co.) (ed. 2) 330 (Gloss.) Go-devil—A device for cleaning out the bore of a pipe. It consists of a piston-type scraper which is usually pumped through the line.
1959 New Scientist 30 Apr. 963/2 ‘Go-devils’ have been used to scour and clean out oil, gas and water pipes.
1962 Lebende Sprachen 7 8/1 Pipelines are regularly cleaned by a bristling metal contraption known as a ‘go-devil’.
2003 How it works: Sci. & Technol. (ed. 3) XIII. 1754/2 Before putting a pipeline into operation, it is also usual to pass a go devil, or pig, through its entire length, pushed through the pipe by air or water.
5. U.S. regional. = hellgrammite n.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > division Endopterygota or Metabola (winged) > [noun] > order Neuroptera > suborder Megaloptera > family Corydalidae > larva of corydalus cornutus or snake feeder
snake feeder1861
hellgrammite1866
snake doctora1883
go-devil1888
hell-devil1889
1888 Amer. Angler 14 July 25/1 Have read the list of name [sic] of the Helgramite, locally applied to the varmint in different localities, etc. About Frankfort, Ky., and on the lower waters of Elk Horn creek they are called Go Devils. On the upper waters and branches they are known as Hornswaglers.
1897 Misc. Rep. Div. Entomol. (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 83 Common names of Hellgramite (Corydalis cornuta Linn.)..Southern Indiana... Go-devil.
1908 Biennial Rep.Commissioner Fisheries & Game for Indiana 198 (caption) Catching Go-Devils [picture of children in a stream with a net].
1966 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1991) II. 707/1 Hellgamite [sic] or go-devil; insect for catfish.
6. U.S. A heavy tool for splitting timber or stone.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > other types of cutting equipment > [noun] > others
ripper1659
Mohock1721
pinking iron1761
stock knife1799
sapper1822
ice plough1830
race knife1832
dresser1860
race-tool1867
pen-maker1875
stone-cutter1875
twinning-machine1875
nail cutter1876
paper cutter1880
guillotine1883
miller1890
flaker1891
undercutter1891
race1904
lino-cutter1907
gang mower1917
go-devil1918
rotary cutter1936
stripping-bill1968
fragmentizer1972
1918 Bull. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics No. 236. 12 The tools most frequently used in the hammer for pointing and knocking off the rough are the splitter and the ‘go-devil’, a two-tooth chisel.
1937 D. Lutes Home Grown 64 Old Man Covell came over to borrow a go-devil with which to split a stubborn log.
1955 Bradford (Pa.) Era 10 Oct. 14/3 Kulovic said he cut his bunkmate on the face with a butcher knife while trying to prevent him from reaching a ‘go-devil’, a chisel-like implement used for splitting wood.
1972 E. Wigginton Foxfire Bk. 45 Splitting and riving..the tools needed are a poleaxe, a go-devil, large wooden wedges, a maul, a froe, and a mallet.
2011 M. Drumheller Memories of Gemini 34 Make sure your go-devil (splitting maul) has a sharp edge.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1835