| / English Dictionary |
DEVIL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected forms: devilled , devilling
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A word used in exclamations of confusion
Example:
the dickens you say
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("devil" is a kind of...):
exclaiming; exclamation (an abrupt excited utterance)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An evil supernatural being
Synonyms:
daemon; daimon; demon; devil; fiend
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("devil" is a kind of...):
evil spirit (a spirit tending to cause harm)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "devil"):
incubus (a male demon believed to lie on sleeping persons and to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women)
succuba; succubus (a female demon believed to have sexual intercourse with sleeping men)
dibbuk; dybbuk ((Jewish folklore) a demon that enters the body of a living person and controls that body's behavior)
Derivation:
devilize (turn into a devil or make devilish)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(Judeo-Christian and Islamic religions) chief spirit of evil and adversary of God; tempter of mankind; master of Hell
Synonyms:
Beelzebub; Devil; Lucifer; Old Nick; Prince of Darkness; Satan; the Tempter
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Instance hypernyms:
spiritual being; supernatural being (an incorporeal being believed to have powers to affect the course of human events)
Domain category:
faith; religion; religious belief (a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny)
Islam; Islamism; Mohammedanism; Muhammadanism; Muslimism (the monotheistic religious system of Muslims founded in Arabia in the 7th century and based on the teachings of Muhammad as laid down in the Koran)
Derivation:
devilize (turn into a devil or make devilish)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A rowdy or mischievous person (usually a young man)
Example:
he chased the young hellions out of his yard
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("devil" is a kind of...):
bad hat; mischief-maker; trouble maker; troublemaker; troubler (someone who deliberately stirs up trouble)
Derivation:
diabolic (showing the cunning or ingenuity or wickedness typical of a devil)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A cruel wicked and inhuman person
Synonyms:
demon; devil; fiend; monster; ogre
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("devil" is a kind of...):
disagreeable person; unpleasant person (a person who is not pleasant or agreeable)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "devil"):
demoniac (someone who acts as if possessed by a demon)
Derivation:
devilize (turn into a devil or make devilish)
diabolic (extremely evil or cruel; expressive of cruelty or befitting hell)
diabolic (showing the cunning or ingenuity or wickedness typical of a devil)
II. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they devil ... he / she / it devils
Past simple: deviled /devilled
Past participle: deviled /devilled
Sense 1
Meaning:
Coat or stuff with a spicy paste
Example:
devilled eggs
Classified under:
Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing
Hypernyms (to "devil" is one way to...):
cook; fix; make; prepare; ready (prepare for eating by applying heat)
Domain category:
cookery; cooking; preparation (the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sentence example:
The chefs devil the vegetables
Sense 2
Meaning:
Cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
Example:
It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves
Synonyms:
annoy; bother; chafe; devil; get at; get to; gravel; irritate; nark; nettle; rag; rile; vex
Classified under:
Hypernyms (to "devil" is one way to...):
displease (give displeasure to)
Verb group:
chafe (feel extreme irritation or anger)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "devil"):
get; get under one's skin (irritate)
eat into; fret; grate; rankle (gnaw into; make resentful or angry)
peeve (cause to be annoyed, irritated, or resentful)
ruffle (trouble or vex)
fret (cause annoyance in)
beset; chevvy; chevy; chivvy; chivy; harass; harry; hassle; molest; plague; provoke (annoy continually or chronically)
antagonise; antagonize (provoke the hostility of)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Sentence example:
The performance is likely to devil Sue
Derivation:
devilment; devilry; deviltry (reckless or malicious behavior that causes discomfort or annoyance in others)
Context examples:
Now, that bird, he would say, is, maybe, two hundred years old, Hawkins—they live forever mostly; and if anybody's seen more wickedness, it must be the devil himself.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
“Twenty devils fly away with him!” shouted another.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
There’s a devilled bladebone ordered.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The devil, sir, for all I know.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
My devil had been long caged, he came out roaring.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
"Must 'a' thought he had hold of seventeen devils," the dog-musher sniggered.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
One by one the poor devils have to jump, and the game is to see whether they are merely dashed to pieces or whether they get skewered on the canes.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“And what the devil do you mean,” retorted Steerforth, “by putting Mr. Copperfield into a little loft over a stable?”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
“Now, you red-eyed devil,” he said, when he had made an opening sufficient for the passage of Buck’s body.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
"Was that Grace Poole? and is she possessed with a devil?" thought I. Impossible now to remain longer by myself: I must go to Mrs. Fairfax.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
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