devil
/ˈdɛv(ə)l
/- Did you find it any easier to avoid the Devil, to avoid evil when you were a monk?
- Hinduism is the only religion, whose God does not have any enemy, like the Devil or the Satan.
- If a person believes themselves to be possessed by the Christian Devil, perform a Catholic exorcism.
- The whole devil/evil spirit/demons/possession thing fascinates me, it always has.
- The devils and evil spirits of the next day were perhaps more psychosomatic and drawn from the excesses of the night before than derived from a Celtic past.
- The Bedouin traditionally hang amulets on the body of adults to prevent the evil eye, devils, impure spirits and other illnesses from attacking the bearer of the amulet.
Synonyms
- ‘This will be the job of all the sons of this homeland… until we can rest assured that our country is free of devils and wicked people,’ Nayef said.
- I seek refuge in Thee from the wicked devils both male and female.
- He prefers to think of the devil as that pimply-faced bully who used to beat him up and steal his lunch money in sixth grade.
Synonyms
- She was full of the devil, as my mother would say.
- Edward's strength was not a match for this Savoyard, and the devil was in him to make him think of tilting against one of such superior force.
- Her name in Hakka dialect meant ‘Sweet Little Sister’ but I could already tell she had the devil in her.
- Intermittent problems are the devil to fix, because they so often don't happen when the mechanic looks for them.
- That exhibit was the devil to put together, I can tell you.
- To do this, some poor devil was up all night with the Letraset making desk signs bearing the slogan ‘The Buck Stops Here.’
- They are the real patriots, not the poor devils who are riding this bear market down.
- Thus, the first order of the new Pax Americana is to bring those we deem as heathens to democracy, to modernize the poor devils, and while we're at it teach them the beauties of a more materialistic culture.
Synonyms
- There was a knock at the door and Lori nearly fell off her bed when she heard it, ‘Lori what the devil is wrong with you?’
- "Speaking of Inspector Gadget, where the devil is he?
- The rag-tearer or 'devil' had been equipped with teeth instead of the original blades, so that it was capable of tearing up the better qualities of cloth.
- Assisted by a "devil," an aspiring barrister in his or her first year of practice, they work alone, the often flamboyant superstars of the Irish legal system.
- As I'd never (to my knowledge) supped with the devil, I was thrilled to find myself in the company of a junior barrister who's devilling at the moment.
- There was Kyle Leyden, a young barrister about to embark on the two-year apprenticeship known as devilling.
- Even after the devilling year, Irish barristers are not guaranteed any income, and many drop out of the profession because of the pressure of growing bank loans.
- As I searched the mass of people below me for Josef's gipsy curls & defiant red scarf, the Reverend's words deviled my ears despite the barrier of the window-glass.
- People will devil their own children, spouses, parents, co-workers and neighbors.
Phrases
be a devil!
between the devil and the deep blue sea
devil a ——
the devil can quote scripture for his purpose
the devil finds work for idle hands to do
the devil looks after his own
a devil of a ——
the devil's dozen
the devil's in the detail
the devil's own ——
the devil to pay
every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost
give the devil his due
go to the devil!
like the devil
play the devil with
speak (or talk) of the devil
Origin
Old English dēofol (related to Dutch duivel and German Teufel), via late Latin from Greek diabolos 'accuser, slanderer' (used in the Septuagint to translate Hebrew śāṭān 'Satan'), from diaballein 'to slander', from dia 'across' + ballein 'to throw'.
The English word devil goes back to Greek diabolos ‘accuser, slanderer’, the source also of diabolic (Late Middle English), and similar words. In the Septuagint, a Greek version of the Hebrew Bible written in the 3rd and 2nd centuries bc, diabolos translated the Hebrew word for ‘Satan’. The devil permeates popular wisdom. The devil finds work for idle hands appears first in English in the Divine Songs of the 18th-century hymn writer Isaac Watts, but goes back to the letters of St Jerome (c.342–420). Why should the devil have all the best tunes? is a question that has been attributed to the Victorian evangelist Rowland Hill, who encouraged the singing of hymns to popular melodies. The words speak or talk of the devil are often uttered when a person appears just after being mentioned. The expression dates back to the mid 17th century and comes from the superstition that if you speak the devil's name aloud he will suddenly appear.
The expression the devil to pay, ‘serious trouble to be expected’, is often said to have a nautical origin. The seam near a ship's keel was sometimes known as ‘the devil’, and because of its position was very difficult to ‘pay’, or seal with pitch or tar. There is not much evidence for this theory, though, and it is more probable that the phrase was a reference to a pact made with Satan, like that of Faust's, and to the inevitable payment to be made to him in the end. Shakespeare used the proverb needs must when the Devil drives, ‘sometimes you have to do something that you would rather not’, in All's Well that Ends Well, but he did not invent it: it is first found in a medieval work called The Assembly of the Gods. Needs must here means ‘one needs must’, or in today's language ‘one must’ or ‘you must’. To play devil's advocate is ‘to express an opinion that you do not really hold in order to encourage debate’. The devil's advocate was an official appointed by the Roman Catholic Church to challenge a proposal to make a dead person into a saint. His job was to present everything known about the proposed saint, including any negative aspects, in order to make sure the case was examined from all sides. The position was first established by Pope Sixtus V in 1587. It still exists, but the official is now known as the Promoter of the Faith. See also angel, demon, deuce, every, fall