Definitions for devil
ˈdɛv əldev·il

Princeton's WordNet(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Satan, Old Nick, Devil, Lucifer, Beelzebub, the Tempter, Prince of Darkness(noun)

   (Judeo-Christian and Islamic religions) chief spirit of evil and adversary of God; tempter of mankind; master of Hell

2. devil, fiend, demon, daemon, daimon(noun)

   an evil supernatural being

3. devil, deuce, dickens(noun)

   a word used in exclamations of confusion

   "what the devil"; "the deuce with it"; "the dickens you say"

4. hellion, heller, devil(noun)

   a rowdy or mischievous person (usually a young man)

   "he chased the young hellions out of his yard"

5. monster, fiend, devil, demon, ogre(verb)

   a cruel wicked and inhuman person

6. annoy, rag, get to, bother, get at, irritate, rile, nark, nettle, gravel, vex, chafe, devil(verb)

   cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations

   "Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really bothers me"; "It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves"

7. devil(verb)

   coat or stuff with a spicy paste

   "devilled eggs"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. devil(Noun)

   A creature of hell.

2. devil(Noun)

   (the devil or the Devil) The chief devil; Satan.

3. devil(Noun)

   The bad part of the conscience; the opposite to the angel.

4. devil(Noun)

   A wicked or naughty person, or one who harbors reckless, spirited energy, especially in a mischievous way; usually said of a young child.

5. devil(Noun)

   A thing that is awkward or difficult to understand or do.

6. devil(Noun)

   Hell.

7. devil(Noun)

   A person, especially a man; used to express a particular opinion of him, usually in the phrases poor devil and lucky devil.

8. devil(Noun)

   A dust devil.

9. devil(Noun)

   An evil or erroneous entity.

10. devil(Verb)

    To annoy or bother; to bedevil.

11. devil(Verb)

    To work as a 'devil'; to work for a lawyer or writer without fee or recognition.

12. devil(Verb)

    To grill with cayenne pepper; to season highly in cooking, as with pepper.

13. devil(Verb)

    To finely grind cooked ham or other meat with spices and condiments.

14. devil(Verb)

    To prepare a sidedish of shelled halved boiled eggs to whose extracted yolks are added condiments and spices, which mixture then is placed into the halved whites to be served.

15. devil(Noun)

    barren, unproductive and unused, as in devil strip.

16. Devil(ProperNoun)

    The chief devil; Satan.

Origin: From deofol, from διάβολος, also as "Satan" (in Jewish/Christian usage, translating Biblical Hebrew שטן, satán), from διαβάλλω, literally “to throw across”, from διά + βάλλω. The Old English word was probably adopted under influence of Latin diabolus (itself from the Greek). Other Germanic languages adopted the word independently: compare Dutch duivel, Low German düvel, German Teufel, Swedish djävul (older: djefvul, Old Swedish diævul, Old Norse djǫfull).

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Devil(noun)

   the Evil One; Satan, represented as the tempter and spiritual of mankind

2. Devil(noun)

   an evil spirit; a demon

3. Devil(noun)

   a very wicked person; hence, any great evil

4. Devil(noun)

   an expletive of surprise, vexation, or emphasis, or, ironically, of negation

5. Devil(noun)

   a dish, as a bone with the meat, broiled and excessively peppered; a grill with Cayenne pepper

6. Devil(noun)

   a machine for tearing or cutting rags, cotton, etc

7. Devil(verb)

   to make like a devil; to invest with the character of a devil

8. Devil(verb)

   to grill with Cayenne pepper; to season highly in cooking, as with pepper

Origin: [AS. defol, deful; akin to G. eufel, Goth. diabalus; 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 to fall. Cf. Diabolic.]

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Devil

   The Devil is believed in many religions, myths and cultures to be a supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly, ranging from being an effective opposite force to the creator god, locked in an eons long struggle for human souls on what may seem even terms, to being a comical figure of fun or an abstract aspect of the individual human condition. While mainstream Judaism contains no overt concept of a devil, Christianity and Islam have variously regarded the Devil as a rebellious fallen angel or demon that tempts humans to sin, if not commit evil deeds himself. In these religions – particularly during periods of division or external threat – the Devil has assumed more of a dualistic status commonly associated with heretics, infidels, and other unbelievers. As such, the Devil is seen as an allegory that represents a crisis of faith, individualism, free will, wisdom and enlightenment. In mainstream Christianity, God and the Devil are usually portrayed as fighting over the souls of humans, with the Devil seeking to lure people away from God and into Hell. The Devil commands a force of evil spirits, commonly known as demons. The Hebrew Bible describes the Adversary as an angel who instigates tests upon humankind. Many other religions have a trickster or tempter figure that is similar to the Devil. Modern conceptions of the Devil include the concept that it symbolizes humans' own lower nature or sinfulness.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Devil

   dev′l, v.t. (cook.) to season highly and broil.—v.i. to perform another man's drudgery (esp. to devil for a barrister).

2. Devil

   dev′l, n. the supreme spirit of evil, Satan: any evil spirit: a false god: a very wicked person: a fellow, as in 'Poor devil:' an expletive, in 'What the devil,' &c.—ns. Dev′ildom; Dev′iless; Dev′ilet; Dev′il-fish, a name for the fishing-frog or angler, for the giant-ray of the United States, and for other large and ugly fishes; Dev′il-in-the-bush, a garden flower, also called Love-in-a-mist.—adj. Dev′ilish, fiendish, malignant.—adv. (coll.) very: exceedingly.—adv. Dev′ilishly.—ns. Dev′ilism; Dev′ilkin.—adj. Dev′il-may-care, reckless, audacious.—ns. Dev′ilment; Dev′il-on-the-neck, an old instrument of torture; Dev′ilry; Dev′ilship; Dev′iltry; Dev′il-wor′ship, the worship of the devil, or of devils; Dev′il-wor′shipper.—Devil a bit, not at all; Devil of a mess, a very bad mess.—Devil's advocate, a name given to the Promoter of the Faith, an advocate at the papal court, whose duty it is to propose all reasonable objections against a person's claims to canonisation; Devil's bit, a popular name for scabious; Devil's books, playing-cards; Devil's coach-horse, a large dark-coloured beetle; Devil's dozen, thirteen (like baker's dozen); Devil's dung, a popular name for asafœtida; Devil's dust, shoddy made by a machine called the devil; Devil's own, a name given to the 88th Regiment in the Peninsular war, as also to the Inns of Court volunteers; Devil's snuff-box, the puff-ball, a kind of fungus; Devil's tattoo (see Tattoo); Devil to pay, serious trouble ahead—said to be from the difficulty of paying, or caulking, an awkward and inaccessible seam in a ship.—Cartesian devil (see Cartesian); Printer's devil, the youngest apprentice in a printing-office: a printer's errand-boy; Tasmanian devil, the ursine dasyure, a Tasmanian carnivore.—Play the devil with, to bring to utter ruin. [A.S. deóful, deófol—L. diabolus—Gr. diabolos, from diaballein, to throw across, to slander, from dia, across, and ballein, to throw; cf. Ger. teufel, Fr. diable, It. diavolo, Sp. diablo.]

The Roycroft Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. devil

   A god who has been bounced for conduct unbecoming a gentleman.

The Foolish Dictionary, by Gideon Wurdz(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. DEVIL

   An old rascal mentioned in the Bible, now reported engaged to Mary McLane.

British National Corpus

1. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'devil' in Written Corpus Frequency: #3675

2. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'devil' in Nouns Frequency: #1855

Anagrams for devil »

1. lived

How to say devil in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of devil in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of devil in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of devil in a Sentence

1. Flip Wilson:

   The devil made me do it!

2. Kedar Joshi:

   In hell, the Devil is God.

3. Remy Nathan:

   The devil's in the details.

4. Italian Proverb:

   Speak of the devil and he appears.

5. Proverb:

   The Devil finds work for idle hands.

Images & Illustrations of devil

Popularity rank by frequency of use