devilish

comparative more devilish · superlative most devilish

1. Resembling a devil.

   Let vs put on our meet incountering mindes, / And in deteſting ſuch a diueliſh Thiefe, / In loue of honor and defence of right / Be arm’d againſt the hate of ſuch a foe, / Whether from earth, or hell, or heauen he grow.

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vi, signature [B7], recto

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   [C]urrently incarcerated Stinc Team members Ketchy the Great, SaySoTheMac, and Bambino; the devilish and gravelly Almighty Suspect; red-clad Inglewooder and headband connoisseur FreeAckrite; baby-faced Martin Luther King Park loiterer Johnny Rose; […]

   2019 February 5, Torii MacAdams, “The New Generation of LA Rap is Changing Everything”, in Vice

   Synonyms: demoniac, demonic, diabolic, diabolical, hellish, infernal, fiendish, satanic

2. Evil, wicked.

   For I abhore to smatter / Of one so deuyllysshe a matter.

   a. 1530 (date written), John Skelton, “Here after Foloweth a Lytell Boke, whiche hath to Name Why Come Ye Nat to Courte? […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume II, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 48, lines 711–712

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   [S]ome turne agayne by grace frõ their deadly hereſies into yͤ life of faith, ⁊ ſome be ſo ſore nowſeled in the falſe hereſies, ⁊ in their obſtinate frowardneſſe take ſuch a deueliſhe delight, yͭ finally thei die therin as did Baifield, Bainã, ⁊ Tewkeſbury.

   1532, Thomas More, “The Confutacion of [William] Tyndale’s Aunswere […]. The Maner and Order of Our Eleccion.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, page 587, columns 1–2

   […] devilish cruelty - for devilish cruelty it was, as three or four drivers armed with whips, lingered up and down the slowly-staggering file of Indians, and avenged every moment's lagging, even every stumble, by a blow of the cruel [whips].

   1855, Charles Kingsley, Westward Ho!: Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 383

   [T]he devilish destructiveness of modern conventional weapons and the need for future Saddam-busters to control their spread. (Think of the damage that a Saddam with longer-range missiles, cleverer warheads and better defences [could do][…].)

   1991, “(please specify the article title)”, in The Economist, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC

   Synonyms: atrocious, deuced, malicious, mischievous, nefarious, ogreish, reprobate, abandoned

3. Roguish or mischievous.

   a devilish grin

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   [S]he gave me that lovely devilish smile that said: I like liberty, and not necessarily accountability.

   2009 December, Dennis L. Siluk, A Leaf and a Rose (A Paris-Munich Romance-Novelette; III), iUniverse, →ISBN, page 41

   Synonyms: cheeky, impish, naughty

4. informalExcessive, extreme.

   A devilish effort yielded a devilish success.

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   I had a devilish time moving the wardrobe downstairs.

   Synonyms: lavish, wanton, excessive, horrendous, de trop, extravagant, extreme, immoderate

comparative more devilish · superlative most devilish

1. datedinformalDevilishly; very; exceedingly.

   It was devilish hot outside today.

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   Only I wish it had gone the other way for it's devilish awkward for me as it happens.

   1934, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], The Bravo of London

   She was bossy and proud, a dreadful sag of skin and bones, and she was a devilish hard worker.

   1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, A Man Called Horse; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 173