TO KICK UP THE DEVIL’S DELIGHT, verbal phr. (common).—To make a disturbance.
1854. WHYTE-MELVILLE, General Bounce, ch. xv. His wives, five or six on ’em, was yowlin’, and cryin’, and KICKIN’ UP THE DEVIL’S DELIGHT.
1863. C. READE, Hard Cash, I., 278. ‘Well then, speak quick, both of you,’ said Sharpe, ‘or I’ll lay ye both by the heels. Ye black scoundrels, what business have you in the captain’s cabin, KICKING UP THE DEVIL’S DELIGHT?’
