diablerie
Americannoun
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diableries
plural
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diabolic magic or art; sorcery; witchcraft.
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the domain or realm of devils.
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the lore of devils; demonology.
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reckless mischief; deviltry.
noun
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magic or witchcraft connected with devils
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demonic lore or esoteric knowledge of devils
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the domain of devils
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devilry; mischief
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of diablerie
First recorded in 1650–60; from French: literally, “mischief,” from Old French diablerie, deablerie “an act inspired by the devil, sorcery,” equivalent to diable “devil” + -erie noun suffix; see devil, -ery
Explanation
Diablerie is a word that has to do with both mischief and the macabre. It describes anything from devilish behavior to black magic and dealings with the devil. The word is borrowed from the Middle French word diablerie, which is rooted in diable, "the devil." In English, it has two main shades of meaning: It can refer to sorcery, witchcraft, dark magic, or representations and descriptions of demons in art and literature. In 19th-century literature, it was a popular way to describe eerie or supernatural occurrences that defied explanation. But it also refers, in a more lighthearted way, to mischievous or "devilish" behavior.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Bassan dies, not according to prophetic schedule, but largely because of Fedora's diablerie, ahead of time.
From Time Magazine Archive
Belated days of sunshine quickened all Hungary last week, speeding the Danube with tumbling freshets, warming Budapest to humorous appreciation of the first spring diablerie of Sari Fedak.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Maestro gets his laughs out of diablerie and the grotesque.
From Time Magazine Archive
In this were assembled all the diablerie, usually comprising a dozen principal personages; and from thence issued a terrible storm of howls and shrieks.
From The Catholic World; Volume I, Issues 1-6 A Monthly Eclectic Magazine by E. Rameur
Beneath the polish and the surface comradeship, Jim had always been conscious of some diablerie about the man, of some inner life of which he knew nothing.
From Astounding Stories of Super-Science, May, 1930 by Harry Bates
By what may or may not be coincidence, their admirably precise diableries are also gentler, more conventional, more philosophical, more ethereal than their American counterparts'.
From Time Magazine Archive
It is a strange wild piece, quite in the German style and full of horrors and diableries.
From After Waterloo: Reminiscences of European Travel 1815-1819 by Major W. E Frye
How beautiful are the scenes, about to follow, depicted in the overtures to Der Freyschutz and Oberon; what wild diableries are not suggested by those wonderful compositions!
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 333, July 1843 by Various
During their sojourn within college walls, the rumours of diableries, of which his younger son had been the hero, were scarce compensated by the reports of scholastic triumphs on the part of the elder.
From The Finger of Fate A Romance by Mayne Reid
Milton was notoriously fond of high romance and gothic diableries; and Collins, who in genius and enthusiasm bore no very distant resemblance to Milton, was wholly carried away by the same attachments.
From The Poetical Works of William Collins With a Memoir by William Collins
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