devil, the phr.
1. used to intensify a var. of questions; an early var. on hell, the phr. (1); often as how the devil...? phr.; what the devil...? phr.; where the devil...? phr.; who the devil...? phr.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Fifth Hundred of Epigrams (1867) 183: When the diuell will ye come in agayne? | |
 | letter 15 Dec. to in Tomlinson Rocky Mountain Sailor (1998) 349: But why in the d___ didn't you let us know. | |
| Third Round 624: Why the devil didn’t I give him the notes and be done with it when he was here? | |
| Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 16: Why the devil are women always late? | |
| A Time of Day (1989) 96: Why the devil should he ask you that? |
2. a general intensifier used to express anger, annoyance, impatience; an early var. on hell, the phr. (2)
| Blind Beggar of Bednall-Green Act IV: Cony-catcher? the Devill you are? | |
| Parson’s Wedding (1664) II v: wild.: He refuses to show me his Wench. care.: The devil he do’s; what have we been thus long comrades, and had all things in common, and must we now come to have common Wenches particular? | |
| Lucky Chance I i: There’s the devil, Charles, had I but that ... but that seldom fails, but yet in vain. | |
| Constant Couple II iii: He, – is the rarest fool in nature, – the devil he is! | |
| Lethe Act I: The devil you would! | |
| Spleen I i: mer.: Because she is married already. jack.: The devil she is? | |
| Poor Gentleman IV ii: worth.: I might have known, that one of your cast is deaf to the petition of distress. sir rob.: The devil I am! | |
| Vermont Republican (Windsor, VT) 21 Feb. 4/3: Sir R. Have you no trade? Mr B. I s it me? — the divil a trade. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Westward Ho! I 46: ‘The devil!’ exclaimed the colonel, astonished. | |
| Sixteen-String Jack 130: ‘I want her services to-night.’ ‘The devil you do, Master Jack Rann’ said Sheppard, with knowing leer. | |
| Northampton Mercury 24 June 7/7: it’s the regulation of the house, and the devil anything else ye’ll get till ye finish the soup. | |
| Girl in the Brown Habit I 46: The devil he did! | |
| Tell England (1965) 308: ‘The devil!’ exclaimed I. |
3. (US gambling) as n., a roll of 7.
| Stories Cops Only Tell Each Other 148: A wooden board had been placed against a wall and one man was tossing the dice so that they struck the board before rolling to a stop. ‘Seven, the devil!’ someone said. |