devilish

From Middle English develissh, develyssh, equivalent to devil +‎ -ish. Cognate with Saterland Frisian düvelsk, düüwelsk (“devilish”), West Frisian duvelsk (“devilish”), Dutch duivels (“devilish”), German Low German düvelsk (“devilish”), German teuflisch (“devilish”), Danish djævelsk (“devilish”), Swedish djävulsk (“devilish”), Norwegian djevelsk (“devilish”).

• enPR: dĕvʹəl, IPA^(key): /ˈdɛvəlɪʃ/, /ˈdɛvɪlɪʃ/

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devilish (comparative more devilish, superlative most devilish)

1. Resembling a devil.
   • c. 1587–1588, [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:

     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.

   • 2019 February 5, Torii MacAdams, “The New Generation of LA Rap Is Changing Everything”, in VICE‎^[1]:

     […] currently 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; […]

2. Wicked, evil.
   • 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:

     [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.

   • 1880, Charles Kingsley, Westward Ho!, Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight: In the Reign of Her Most Glorious Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, page 383:

     [...] 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].

   • 1991, The Economist:

     [...] the 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].

3. Roguish or mischievous.

   a devilish grin

   • 2009 12, Dennis L. Siluk Ed.D., A Leaf and a Rose (A Paris-Munich Romance-Novelette): vol. III, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 41:

     " […] " remarked Bernadette, as I looked at her, and she gave me that lovely devilish smile that said : I like liberty, and not necessarily accountability. And evidently, […]

4. (informal) Extreme, excessive.

   A devilish effort yielded a devilish success.

   I had a devilish time moving the wardrobe downstairs.

• (resembling a devil): atrocious, demoniac, deuced, diabolic, evil, fiendish, ghoulish, malicious, mischievous, nefarious, ogreish, reprobate, unhallowed, wicked
• (characteristic of a devil): demonic, diabolic, diabolical, hellish, infernal, satanic, satanical
• (extreme): excessive, extreme.

devilish (comparative more devilish, superlative most devilish)

1. (informal, dated) Devilishly; very; exceedingly.

   It was devilish hot outside today.