| 单词 | the devil to pay |
| 释义 | > as lemmasthe devil to pay e. the devil to pay, the devil and all to pay, and variants: serious trouble or difficulty entailed by a particular circumstance or obligation. Frequently with will or would, indicating the certainty or inevitability of trouble resulting from a particular event or course of action. Cf. hell to pay at hell n. and int. Phrases 5c.Originally with reference to alleged bargains made by wizards, etc., with Satan, and the inevitable payment to be made to him in the end. the devil to pay and no pitch hot: a problem for which there is no obvious or immediate solution; now chiefly historical. (Probably merely an elaboration of the standard form of the phrase, rather than a reference to the difficulty of ‘paying’ or caulking the seam near a ship's keel called the ‘devil’; see note at sense 13.) ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > commotion, disturbance, or disorder > in a state of commotion or disorder [phrase] on steerc1480 the devil to paya1500 in (an) uproar1548 the devil rides on a fiddle-stick1598 in motion1598 the devil (and all) to doa1681 (all) the fat is in the fire1797 a1500 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 15th Cent. (1939) 277 (MED) Better wer be at tome for ay, Þan her to serue, þe deuil to pay, sic vana famulantes. 1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 28 Sept. (1948) II. 372 And then there will be the devil and all to pay. 1728 C. Cibber Vanbrugh's Provok'd Husband v. i. 77 In comes my Lady Townly here..who..has had the Devil to pay yonder. 1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 179 I must be with my Wife on Tuesday, or there will be the Devil and all to pay. 1744 A. Hamilton Itinerarium 6 July in C. Bridenbaugh Gentleman's Progress (1948) 83 It was the devil to pay and no pitch hot? An interrogatory adage metaphorically derived from the manner of sailors who pay their ship's bottoms with pitch. 1820 Ld. Byron Let. 5 Nov. (1977) VII. 218 There will be the devil to pay, and there is no saying who will or who will not be set down in his bill. 1830 J. Shipp Mem. Mil. Career (ed. 2) I. 61 ‘Is there anything the matter?’—‘Yes,’ replied the Captain, ‘the devil to pay, and no pitch hot.’ 1837 J. W. Carlyle Lett. I. 72 Had he been laid up at present, there would have been the very devil to pay. 1892 A. Birrell Res Judicatæ xii. 272 Then, indeed—to use a colloquial expression—there would be the devil to pay. 1923 F. H. Kitchen Divers. Dawson 103 There would be the very devil to pay if Crutchley..got wise to their existence. 1956 M. P. Hood Scarlet Thread viii. 74 I thought the devil'd be to pay 'n no pitch hot. 1963 W. P. Blatty John Goldfarb (1964) xii. 59 If the plane were late there would be the devil to pay. 1992 R. Moss Fire along Sky vi. 86 When Nancy's father found out she had a bun in the oven, there was the devil to pay and no pitch hot, as we used to say in our section of Meath. 2006 Harvard Rev. 30 157 If there is a leak and it's not attended to, there will be the devil to pay down the road. < as lemmas |
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