- devil
- [[t]de̱v(ə)l[/t]]
devils1) N-PROPER: the N In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the Devil is the most powerful evil spirit.Syn:2) N-COUNT A devil is an evil spirit.
...the idea of angels with wings and devils with horns and hoofs.
Syn:3) N-COUNT (feelings) You can use devil to emphasize the way you feel about someone. For example, if you call someone a poor devil, you are saying that you feel sorry for them. You can call someone you are fond of but who sometimes annoys or irritates you an old devil or a little devil. [INFORMAL]I felt sorry for Blake, poor devil...
Manfred, you're a suspicious old devil...
Susie, you're a determined little devil.
4) N-COUNT If you refer to someone as a devil, you mean that they do not behave very well but you like them and are not angry with them. [INFORMAL]`I think he was a bit of a devil,' Constance said.
5) PHRASE: v-link PHR n (emphasis) Devil can be used to emphasize what you think about someone or something. For example, if you say that someone is a devil of a nuisance, you mean that they are very annoying. If you say that something is a devil of a problem, you mean that it is a very difficult problem.He was always a devil of a nuisance...
It's a devil of a tricky problem,isn't it?
6) PHRASE If you say better the devil you know or better the devil you know than the devil you don't know, you mean that you would prefer to have contact with or do business with a person you already know, even though you don't like them, than with a person you don't know. [mainly BRIT]7) PHRASE: V inflects, PHR to-inf, PHR -ing (emphasis) If you say that you had the devil's own job to do something or that you had a devil of a job doing something, you are emphasizing that it was difficult to do it. [BRIT, INFORMAL]We had the devil's own job to persuade him to take part.
8) PHRASE (emphasis) If you say that someone does something like the devil, you are emphasizing that they put a lot of effort into it. If you say that someone drives like the devil, you are emphasizing that they drive very fast.He drives himself on, working like the devil from seven in the morning until midnight...
He must have driven like the devil.
9) PHRASE (disapproval) You can say the devil take the hindmost to describe or comment on a situation you disapprove of because people do only what is best for themselves without thinking about other people.Every one for himself and the devil take the hindmost.
10) PHRASE: v-link PHR If you say that you are between the devil and the deep blue sea, you mean that you are in a difficult situation where you have to choose between two equally unpleasant courses of action.11) PHRASE: V inflects (disapproval) If you say that someone has sold their soul to the devil, you mean that you disapprove of them because they have done something that you think is not right in order to get what they want.12) PHRASE People say speak of the devil, or in British English talk of the devil, if someone they have just been talking about appears unexpectedly.Well, talk of the devil!
13) PHRASE (emphasis) When you want to emphasize how annoyed or surprised you are, you can use an expression such as what the devil, how the devil, or why the devil. [INFORMAL]`What the devil's the matter?'...
Tim wondered how the devil they had managed it...
`Why the devil did you do that?'
English dictionary. 2008.
