Devil

subs. (common).—1.  Formerly a barrister who DEVILS, or ‘gets up,’ a case for a leader; as in A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton for Mr. Stryver. Now common for anyone hacking for another.—(See quots., 1889.)

  1872.  Echo, 14 Nov. Mr. Archibald, the Attorney-General’s DEVIL is to be made a judge. Well, other DEVILS have been made judges of. Sir James Hannen, we are told, was a DEVIL once.

  1873.  Daily Telegraph, 12 Feb. It will not be possible even to send a telegram to a French journal during a sitting. Not a word must be printed until the President’s DEVIL has distributed the Officiel to the different office boys who will henceforth, etc.

  1889.  Telegram, M— 84, B— Street, London, E.C. Strange letter received. Will you please see DEVIL at my chambers? R—. [In original telegram the word ‘devil’ was queried by the P.O. authorities!]

  1889.  G. R. SIMS, The Author’s Ghost. ‘Who are you?’ I asked in dismay. ‘I’m a DEVIL …’ ‘A what!’ I exclaimed with a start. ‘A DEVIL … I give plots and incidents to popular authors, sir. Write poetry for them, drop in situations, jokes, work up their rough material; in short, sir, I DEVIL for them.’

  1890.  Speaker, 22 Feb., p. 211, col. 2. No one who is not in the swim can have any conception of the amount of work and worry that devolves upon a counsel in leading practice at the criminal bar…. He has to do the best he can, with the assistance of juniors and DEVILS.

  2.  (printers’).—An errand boy or young apprentice; in the early days of the craft, the boy who took the printed sheets as they came from the press. Fr., un attrape-science.

  1754.  The Connoisseur, No. 9. Our publisher, printer, corrector, DEVIL, or any other employed in our service.

  1757.  FOOTE, The Author, Act I. A printer’s prime minister, called a DEVIL.

  1859.  Punch, vol. XXXVI, p. 82. ‘An author’s paradise.’ A place where there are no printers’ DEVILS.

  1863.  ALEX. SMITH, Dreamthorp, p. 211. [Chaucer] wrote in a leisurely world, when there was plenty of time for writing and reading; long before the advent of the printer’s DEVIL or of Mr Mudie.

  3.  (nautical).—See quot.

  1883.  Illustrated London News, 16 June, p. 603, col. 2. It is proposed to prevent the use of the DEVIL, a kind of sharpened anchor, at the bows of a trawler for cutting the nets of drifters in the North Sea.

  4.  (old).—A firework.

  1742.  FIELDING, Joseph Andrews, bk. III., ch. vii. The captain, perceiving an opportunity, pinned a cracker or DEVIL to the cassock, and then lighted it.

  5.  (licensed victuallers’).—Gin seasoned with capsicums. Cf., following sense.

  1828.  G. SMEETON, Doings in London. The extract of Capsicums or extract of Grains of Paradise is known in the gin-selling trade by the appellation of the DEVIL. They are manufactured by putting a quantity of small East India chillies into a bottle of spirits of wine and keeping it closely stopped for about a month.

  6.  (common).—A grilled bone seasoned with mustard and cayenne. Cf., ATTORNEY.

  7.  (military).—A sand-storm.

  1889.  Daily News, 8 July. ‘The Camp at Wimbledon.’ They raised also clouds of dust that went whirling across the common in spiral cones like desert DEVILS.

  8.  (common).—A species of firewood soaked in resin.

  THE or A DEVIL OF [A THING], adj. and adv. (colloquial).—An indefinite intensitive: e.g., DEVIL of a mess, of a woman, of a row, etc.

  1602.  SHAKESPEARE, Twelfth Night, ii. 3. The DEVIL, a puritan that he is, or anything constantly.

  1836.  M. SCOTT, The Cruise of the Midge [ed. 1860], p. 102. A DEVIL OF A good fight he made of it.

  1836.  M. SCOTT, The Cruise of the Midge [ed. 1860], p. 298. The DEVIL A THING was there in sight, not even a small white speck of a sail.

  AMERICAN DEVIL, subs. phr. (workmen’s).—A steam whistle or ‘hooter’; used in place of a bell for summoning to work.

  1872.  Manchester Guardian, 24 Sept. Mr. Powell’s Bill contains abundant powers for suppressing the vile nuisance known as the AMERICAN DEVIL, and should any man suffer from it in future he will have nobody to thank but himself.

  BLUE DEVILS.—See ante.

  LITTLE (or YOUNG) DEVIL, subs. phr. (common).—A half playful, half sarcastic, address; a term of endearment; e.g., YOU LITTLE DEVIL. Cf., YOU YOUNG TINKER.

  1763.  FRANCES SHERIDAN, The Discovery, i., 2. My wife was such an unreasonable LITTLE DEVIL, as to ask me forty questions about my staying out so late.

  Verb (common).—1.  To act as a DEVIL (q.v., subs.); to perform routine or detail work for another.

  1872.  Daily Telegraph, 30 Nov. Letter ‘Called to the Bar.’ Then I took legislative rambles in the Courts, so that I might see practice, and that practitioners might see me; and then I DEVILLED and reported a little.

  1883.  Graphic, 12 May, p. 478, col. 2. The practice prevailing among eminent counsel of undertaking more cases than they can possibly manage, and handing over some to the juniors who DEVIL for them.

  2.  (American cadet).—To victimize.

  WHAT, WHO, WHEN, WHERE, or HOW THE DEVIL, phr. (common).—An expletive of wonder, vexation, etc.

  1735.  POPE, Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, 171.

  1776.  GARRICK, Bon Ton, or High Life Above Stairs, Act ii., Sc. 1. Sir. T. Why, WHAT THE DEVIL do you make one at these masqueradings.

  1780.  HANNAH COWLEY, The Belle’s Stratagem, Act i., Sc. 3. Har. WHO THE DEVIL could have foreseen that?

  1827.  R. B. PEAKE, Comfortable Lodgings, Act i., Sc. 3. WHAT THE DEVIL is all this about?

  1836.  M. SCOTT, The Cruise of the Midge [Ry. ed. 1860], p. 134. HOW THE DEVIL can you get anything out of an empty vessel?

  TO PLAY THE DEVIL WITH, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To ruin or molest.

  1821.  P. EGAN, Tom and Jerry, p. 46.

  TO PULL THE DEVIL BY THE TAIL, phr. (colloquial).—To go to ruin headlong; also to be reduced to one’s last shift. Cf., TO PLAY THE DEVIL WITH.

  1890.  European Mail, 2 Aug., p. 30, col. 2. The immense disproportion between the solid assets and the liabilities of the enterprise made experienced Parisian financiers say from the first that the company was PULLING THE DEVIL BY THE TAIL, and a perusal of M. Monchicourt’s report must confirm this view.

  TO WHIP THE DEVIL ROUND THE STUMP, verb. phr. (American).—To enjoy the sweets of wickedness and yet escape the penalty.

  1857.  New York Evening Post. While Mr. Jones is describing his wants in the money line, and telling the president how near through he is, that officer is carrying on a mental addition it may he after this manner: Jones, you’re a clever fellow, but Smith tells me you are engaged in a coal-stock operation. I have heard also that you have been dabbling in Erie. There is a want of candor now, I perceive, in the statement of your affairs. There, you are now WHIPPING THE DEVIL AROUND THE STUMP: I see his foot.

  1871.  DE VERE, Americanisms, p. 187. Nor is the slang phrase: TO WHIP THE DEVIL AROUND THE STUMP to be traced very clearly to the backwoods.

  1872.  HALDEMAN, Pennsylvania Dutch.

  HAUL DEVIL, PULL BAKER, phr. (colloquial).—To contend with varying fortunes. In the sense of endeavouring to overreach, a variant is DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND.

  1889.  Cornhill Magazine, July, p. 99. I can’t get proper accounts from her; and it’s a regular case of PULL DEVIL, PULL BAKER, whenever I want to look at the trades-people’s books.

  AND THE DEVIL KNOWS WHAT or WHO, phr. (colloquial).—A term used vaguely and indefinitely to include details not specifically mentioned or known.

  1717.  CENTLIVRE, A Bold Stroke for a Wife, Act iii., Sc. 1. Per. Why, what a pack of trumpery has this rogue picked up! His pagod, poluflosboio, his zonos moros musphonons, AND THE DEVIL KNOWS WHAT.

  TO GO TO THE DEVIL, phr. (colloquial).—To go to rack and ruin. GO TO THE DEVIL! = begone! A summary form of dismissal with no heed as to what may become of the person who is sent about his business.

  1801.  T. DIBDIN, The Birthday, Act i., Sc. 2. Capt. Hold your tongue, Junk; you are a libellous rascal. You, and your box, too, may GO TO THE DEVIL.

  TO HOLD A LIGHT or CANDLE TO, or BURN A CANDLE BEFORE, THE DEVIL, phr. (colloquial).—To propitiate through fear; to assist or wink at wrong doing. Shakespeare (Merchant of Venice, Act ii., Sc. 6), employs ‘What! must I hold a candle to my shame,’ in much the same sense. [From the practice of burning candles before the images of saints, etc.]. NOT FIT TO HOLD A CANDLE TO THE DEVIL = a simile of inferiority. TO HOLD A CANDLE TO ANOTHER = to assist in, occupy a subordinate position, or (see quot., 1859) to compare to another.

  c. 1461.  Paston Letters, II., 73 (ed. Gairdner). For it is a common proverbe, ‘A man must sumtyme SET A CANDEL BEFOR THE DEVYLE’; and therefor thow it be not alder most mede and profytabyl, yet if ij harmys the leste is to be take.

  1557.  TUSSER, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie, p. 148.

  1672.  WYCHERLEY, Love in a Wood, I., i., wks. (1713), 346. You cannot HOLD A CANDLE TO THE DEVIL.

  1705.  WARD, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. III., p. 17.

  1828.  SCOTT, The Fair Maid of Perth, ii., 213. Here have I been HOLDING A CANDLE TO THE DEVIL, to show him the way to mischief.

  1859.  H. KINGSLEY, Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn, ch. xxxii. A Frenchman is conceited enough, but, by George, he can’t HOLD A CANDLE to a Scotchman.

  THE DEVIL, or THE DEVIL AND ALL TO PAY, phr. (colloquial).—A simile of fruitless effort; awkward consequences to be faced. [Nautical: originally, ‘There’s the devil to pay and no pitch hot’; the ‘devil’ being any seam in a vessel, awkward to caulk, or in sailors’ language ‘to pay.’ Hence by confusion THE DEUCE TO PAY (q.v.).]

  1711.  SWIFT, The Journal to Stella, 28 Sept., xxxi. And then there will be THE DEVIL AND ALL TO PAY.

  1761.  COLMAN, The Jealous Wife, III., in wks. (1777), i., 69. There’s the DEVIL TO PAY in meddling with them.

  1762.  FOOTE, The Liar, iii., 3. Sir, here has been the DEVIL TO PAY within.

  1836.  M. SCOTT, The Cruise of the Midge [Ry. ed. 1860], p. 127. Here was the DEVIL TO PAY with a vengeance.

  1837.  R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends (The Execution), (ed. 1862), p. 198.

  1866.  G. ELIOT, Felix Holt, ch. xxi. He made a fool of himself with marrying at Vesoul; and there was THE DEVIL TO PAY with the girl’s relations.

  TALK OF THE DEVIL AND YOU’LL SEE HIS HORNS or TAIL, phr. (colloquial).—Said of a person who, being the subject of conversation, unexpectedly makes an appearance. Fr., parlez des anges et vous en voyez les ailes.

  b. 1664, d. 1721.  M. PRIOR, Hans Carvel.

  DEVIL-MAY-CARE, adj. (colloquial).—Rollicking; reckless; rash.

  1822–36.  J. WILSON, Noctes Ambrosianæ, I., 274. [The shepherd has thrown back to the fire a live coal.] Belyve the blisters ’ll be rising like foam-bells; but DEIL MAY CARE.

  1836.  DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, ch. xlix., p. 428. He was a mighty free and easy, roving, DEVIL-MAY-CARE sort of person, was my Uncle, gentlemen.

  1839.  LEVER, Harry Lorrequer, ch. xii. There was also a certain DEVIL-MAY-CARE recklessness about the self-satisfied swagger of his gait.

  1849.  ALBERT SMITH, in Gabarni in London (Acrobats). Unsettled, wandering, and DEVIL-MAY-CARE as his disposition may be, he cannot be called idle.

  1863.  CAROLINE NORTON, Lost and Saved, p. 33. Treherne had a hot twinge of doubt, in spite of his DEVIL-MAY-CARE style of writing, whether Lewellyn would answer him at all.

  1865.  Punch, vol. XLVIII., p. 106. Fechter’s acting [as Robert Macaire] in The Roadside Inn may be described as the DEVIL-MAY-CARE style.

  DEVIL TAKE, or FETCH, or SEND, or SNATCH, or FLY AWAY WITH, YOU, ME, HIM! etc., phr. (colloquial).—An imprecation of impatience. Fr., le boulanger t’entrolle en son pasclin.

  1837.  R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, ‘The Smuggler’s Leap’ (ed. 1862), p. 330.

  THERE’S THE DEVIL AMONG THE TAILORS, phr. (common).—A row is going on. [Edwards:—Originating in a riot at the Haymarket when Dowton announced the performance for his benefit, of a burlesque entitled ‘The Tailors: a Tragedy for Warm Weather.’ Many thousands of journeymen tailors congregated, and interrupted the performances. Thirty-three were brought up at Bow Street next day.—See Biographica Dramatica under ‘Tailors.’]

  WHEN THE DEVIL IS BLIND, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Never, i.e., in a month of Sundays; said of anything unlikely to happen. For synonyms, see GREEK KALENDS.