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raise the devil

raise the dev·il
R r

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [reyz stressed th ee dev-uh l]
    • /reɪz stressed ði ˈdɛv əl/
    • /reɪz ðə ˈdev.əl/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [reyz stressed th ee dev-uh l]
    • /reɪz stressed ði ˈdɛv əl/

Definitions of raise the devil words

  • noun raise 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 raise the devil an atrociously wicked, cruel, or ill-tempered person. 1
  • noun raise the devil a person who is very clever, energetic, reckless, or mischievous. 1
  • noun raise 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 raise the devil Also called printer's devil. Printing. a young worker below the level of apprentice in a printing office. 1
  • noun raise the devil any of various mechanical devices, as a machine for tearing rags, a machine for manufacturing wooden screws, etc. 1
See all 24 definitions of raise the devil

Information block about the term

Origin of raise 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 Raise the devil

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of Raise the devil

raise 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".

raise the devil usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

See also

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