devilry

[ dev-uhl-ree ]
See synonyms for devilry on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural dev·il·ries.

Origin of devilry

1
Middle English word dating back to 1325–75; see origin at devil, -ry

Words Nearby devilry

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use devilry in a sentence

  • He was surrounded with bravado and devilry, with all the disbanded sins of the Flanders regiments.

  • The pen can give but a shadow of the drollery and devilry of the sweet, merry rogues that hailed the smiling morn.

  • They are desperate, then, and seem to exult in devilry of all kinds.

    A Final Reckoning | G. A. Henty
  • So I hit him, and hit him rather hard, for what he had said out of pure devilry.

    A Tramp's Notebook | Morley Roberts
  • All the—passez-moi le mot—devilry between the sexes begins at their separation.

British Dictionary definitions for devilry

devilry

deviltry

/ (ˈdɛvəlrɪ) /


nounplural -ries or -tries
  1. reckless or malicious fun or mischief

  2. wickedness or cruelty

  1. black magic or other forms of diabolism

Origin of devilry

1
C18: from French diablerie, from diable devil

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012