kill-deviln.adj.
/ˈkɪlˌdɛvl/, U.S. /ˈkɪlˌdɛvəl/ A. n.† 1. A recklessly daring fellow. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > courage > daring > reckless daring > [noun] > one who is recklessly daring
foolhardya1382
kill-devila1593
daredevil1794
a1593 C. Marlowe Tragicall Hist. Faustus (1604) sig. B3v Do ye see yonder tall fellow... hee has kild the deuill. so I should be cald kill diuell all the parish ouer.
2. A colloquial name for rum (see also quot. 1846). Obsolete exc. Historical.Hence probably French guildive (1722: ‘origine inconnue’, Littré and Hatzfeld & Darmesteter). N. Darnell Davis in Trans. Philol. Soc. 1885–7, 714.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > distilled drink > rum > [noun]
kill-devilc1651
rumbullionc1651
rumbustion1652
rum1654
molasses1772
bubbly1902
Tom Thumb1925
c1651 in N. D. Davis Cavaliers & Roundheads Barbados (1887) 112 The chiefe fudling they make in the Island is Rumbullion, alias Kill-Devill, and this is made of suggar canes distilled, a hott, hellish and terrible liquor.
1654 in J. H. Trumbull Public Rec. Colony of Connecticut (1850) I. 255 Berbados Liquors, commonly called Rum, Kill Deuill, or the like.
1674 J. Josselyn Acct. Two Voy. 26 Captain Thomas Wannerton..drank to me a pint of kill-devil alias Rhum at a draught.
1740 Hist. Jamaica ii. 31 Rum-punch is not improperly called Kill-devil; for Thousands lose their Lives by its means.
1796 J. G. Stedman Narr. Exped. Surinam I. 96 The furnace which distils the kill-devil.
1846 ‘Lord Chief Baron’ Swell's Night Guide (new ed.) 123/2 Kill-devil, new rum, from its pernicious quality.
1885 Cent. Mag. Apr. 884/2 Rum, or ‘kill-devil’, as it was everywhere called, was rendered plentiful by the trade with the West Indies and by the New England stills.
1970 M. Slater Caribbean Cooking 7 From sugar came rum, ‘kill-devil’, the spirit of cane.
3. An artificial bait used in angling, made to spin in the water like a wounded fish.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > bait > artificial bait
minnow1655
grasshopper1676
kill-devil1833
artificial1847
spoon1857
phantom minnow1867
spoon-baitc1878
bone-squid1883
phantom1883
spoon-hook1888
whisky-bobby1904
wagtail1906
1833 Bowlker's Art of Angling (new ed.) 33 There are..three modes of Trolling... The third is called the kill-devil, and..it answers I think the best of all.
1839 P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 161 Lord Saltoun's brass ‘Kill-devil,’ the only artificial bait the I ever found to take in our river.
1860 C. Simeon Stray Notes Fishing & Nat. Hist. 22 I have fished with artificial spinning-baits (killdevils) of nearly every kind.
B. adj.
That would kill devils; deadly.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > cause of death > [adjective]
deadlyc893
deathlyOE
deathfula1250
mortalc1390
capitalc1426
exitialc1475
fey1488
mortuala1500
perishinga1500
fatal?1518
ferial1528
mortiferousa1538
deadc1540
exitious?1545
deathlike1548
mortifying1555
starvingc1600
lethal1604
speedingc1604
vital1612
irrecoverable1614
feral1621
lethiferous1651
mortific1651
mortifical1657
daggering1694
exitiose1727
fateful1764
kill-devil1831
unsurvivable1839
lethiferal1848
tachythanatous1860
1831 E. J. Trelawny Adventures Younger Son III. xxxvi. 252 We distributed this kill-devil hell-paste in several parts of the vessel,..destroying ‘at one fell swoop’, all the reptiles which infested and annoyed us.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1901; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.a1593