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go to the devil

go to the dev·il
G g

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [goh too stressed th ee dev-uh l]
    • /goʊ tu stressed ði ˈdɛv əl/
    • /ɡəʊ tuː ðə ˈdev.l̩/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [goh too stressed th ee dev-uh l]
    • /goʊ tu stressed ði ˈdɛv əl/

Definitions of go to the devil words

  • noun go to the devil Theology. (sometimes initial capital letter) the supreme spirit of evil; Satan. a subordinate evil spirit at enmity with God, and having power to afflict humans both with bodily disease and with spiritual corruption. 1
  • noun go to the devil an atrociously wicked, cruel, or ill-tempered person. 1
  • noun go to the devil a person who is very clever, energetic, reckless, or mischievous. 1
  • noun go to the devil a person, usually one in unfortunate or pitiable circumstances: The poor devil kept losing jobs through no fault of his own. 1
  • noun go to the devil Also called printer's devil. Printing. a young worker below the level of apprentice in a printing office. 1
  • noun go to the devil any of various mechanical devices, as a machine for tearing rags, a machine for manufacturing wooden screws, etc. 1

Information block about the term

Origin of go to the devil

First appearance:

before 900
One of the 4% oldest English words
before 900; Middle English devel, Old English dēofol < Late Latin diabolus < Greek diábolos Satan (Septuagint, NT), literally, slanderer (noun), slanderous (adj.), verbid of diabállein to assault someone's character, literally, to throw across, equivalent to dia- dia- + bállein to throw

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Go to the devil

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

go to the devil popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 98% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

go to the devil usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

See also

Matching words

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