devil

devil
noun
1 EVIL
a) the Devil the most powerful evil spirit in Christianity; Satan
b) (C) any evil spirit: The villagers believed a devil had taken control of his body.
2 PERSON (C) informal someone who behaves very badly, especially a child: Tommy's a little devil!
3 speak/talk of the devil spoken used when someone you have just been talking about walks into the room where you are
4 play/be devil's advocate to pretend that you disagree with something so that there will be a discussion about it
5 be a devil BrE spoken used to persuade someone to do something they are not sure they should do: Go on, be a devil, have another gin and tonic.
6 lucky/poor/silly etc devil spoken someone who is lucky, unlucky, silly etc
7 what/who/why etc the devil? spoken old-fashioned used to show that you are surprised or annoyed: What the devil d'you think you're doing?
8 a devil of a job/mess etc old-fashioned a very unpleasant job, mess etc: We had a devil of a job trying to get the carpet clean again.
9 go to the devil! spoken used to tell someone rudely to go away or stop annoying you
10 have the luck of the devil to be very lucky
11 better the devil you know (than the devil you don't) used to say that it is better to deal with someone or something you know, even if you do not like them, than to deal with someone or something new that might be worse
12 be between the devil and the deep blue sea to be in a difficult situation in which you have to choose between two unpleasant things
13 do sth like the devil old-fashioned to do something very fast or using a lot of force: They rang the bell and ran like the devil.
14 devil take the hindmost used to describe a situation in which people think about their own success and do not care what happens to anyone else

Longman dictionary of contemporary English. 2004.

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  • Devil — • The name commonly given to the fallen angels, who are also known as demons. With the article (ho) it denotes Lucifer, their chief, as in Matthew 25:41, the Devil and his angels Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Devil     Devil …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • devil — ► NOUN 1) (the Devil) (in Christian and Jewish belief) the supreme spirit of evil. 2) an evil spirit; a demon. 3) a very wicked or cruel person. 4) a mischievously clever or self willed person. 5) informal a person with specified characteristics …   English terms dictionary

  • Devil — Dev il, n. [AS. de[ o]fol, de[ o]ful; akin to G. ?eufel, Goth. diaba[ u]lus; all fr. L. diabolus the devil, Gr. ? the devil, the slanderer, fr. ? to slander, calumniate, orig., to throw across; ? across + ? to throw, let fall, fall; cf. Skr. gal… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • devil — [dev′əl] n. [ME devel < OE deofol < LL(Ec) diabolus < Gr diabolos, slanderous (in LXX, Satan; in N.T., devil) < diaballein, to slander, lit., throw across < dia , across + ballein, to throw: see BALL2] 1. Theol. a) [often D ] the… …   English World dictionary

  • devil — O.E. deofol evil spirit, a devil, the devil, false god, diabolical person, from L.L. diabolus (also the source of It. diavolo, Fr. diable, Sp. diablo; Ger. Teufel is O.H.G. tiufal, from Latin via Goth. diabaulus), from Ecclesiastical Gk. diabolos …   Etymology dictionary

  • DevIL — Тип графическая библиотека Разработчик Denton Woods Nicolas Weber Meloni Dario и др. Написана на C Операционная система Кроссплатформенное программное обеспечение Последняя версия 1.7.8 (8 марта 2009 года) …   Википедия

  • DEViL — (engl. Teufel) bezeichnet: ein Album der Band Die Ärzte, siehe Devil (Album) eine Programmierschnittstelle zum Laden und Speichern von Grafiken, siehe DevIL Development Environment for Visual Languages (DEViL), ein Generator System für visuelle… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • devil\ of\ it — • devil of it • heck of it n. phr. 1. the worst or most unlucky thing about a trouble or accident; the part that is most regrettable. Andy lost his notebook, and the devil of it was that the notebook contained all his homework for the coming week …   Словарь американских идиом

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