the devil


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Related to the devil: Devil worship

(in) the devil

Used as an intensifier after a question word (who, what, where, when, why, and how) to express extreme confusion, surprise, or aggravation. And just how the devil am I supposed to have three reports done by 9 AM tomorrow? Where in the devil did you find that rusty old car? Who the devil is making all that noise?
See also: devil

the devil

Particularly difficult, arduous, or unpleasant. My husband's handwriting is the devil to read. This cake is always the devil to get out of the pan, so it always ends up looking like a mess by the time I'm done.
See also: devil

*devil

Fig. a severe scolding. (*Typically: get ~; Catch ~; give someone ~.) Bill is always getting the devil about something. I'm late. If I don't get home soon, I'll catch the devil!

the ˈdevil

(old-fashioned) very difficult or unpleasant: These berries are the devil to pick because they’re so small.
See also: devil
References in periodicals archive ?
The Tasmanian Government is committed to protecting and rebuilding the Tasmanian devil population, and its partnerships with local businesses such as HVCP that will help ensure the devils survival.
Australia : Huon Valley Caravan Park welcomes devilish new guests
According to Tim Faulkner, operations manager of the Australian Reptile Park, in those small pens, the devils lose a lot of their wild behaviors.
Hope for the devil? The race is on to save a rare animal from a deadly disease
Captive insurance populations of devils exist in interstate zoos and on mainland Tasmania, but the devils on Maria Island will be the first to be released into the wild.
Devils on offshore islands
The devil tells Jesus to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, assuring Jesus that God will protect him.
First Sunday in Lent February 29, 2004
Dendle begins the introductory chapter by professing his interest in the devil as ontological symbol in the mythological struggle with God, which the saint, as emissary of God, fights by encountering demons as emissaries from the Satan bound in hell (3).
Satan Unbound: the Devil in Old English Narrative Literature
While the devil has often threatened him, he has never harmed him, even though he has been involved in hundreds of cases of demonic possession.
Giving Satan a chance: an exorcist's complaint. (Vatican)
The new literature on the devil seems more appropriately an obituary of this "bad angel.
The Devil, You Say
We have already reflected upon the manner in which blues texts and blues praxis challenge the presuppositions of fallenness and transcendent justice, but it remains to briefly examine the celebration of the devil and hell in blues mythology.
The blues artist as cultural rebel
I had killed the Devil's daughter - that's what the Devil told me to do.
I HAD TO KILL THE DEVIL'S DAUGHTER; Voice told me to do it, claims O'Donnell
The sentence suggested that those who didn't toe the line would "truly have the devil to pay .
Knit-pickers who don't tow the line will soon have the devil to pay
In the Bible and Apocrypha, the Devil is variously referred to as Satan, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Samael, and, according to the Church Fathers, as Lucifer.
Devil
Devil releases in Tasmania are critical in the ongoing national effort to secure a future for the species in the wild, in Tasmania, where the Devil belongs.
Australia : A new wild devil recovery milestone
People say "the Devil made me do it" but no one ever applauds the Devil for his tireless work.
The Closet Devil
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