play the devil with

Idioms

Upset, ruin, make a mess of, as in This weather plays the devil with my aching joints, or Wine stains play the devil with a white tablecloth. This allusion to diabolical mischief is heard more in Britain than in America. [Mid-1500s] Also see the synonym play havoc.

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.

He hated it, but in self-defense he repressed his homesickness and began to play the devil with his wit.

From Time Magazine Archive

Jealousy, it is true, will play the devil with a ghost, driving him to the bedside of secondary wedlock, there to scowl, unseen, and gibber inaudible remonstrances.

From Other Tales and Sketches (From: "The Doliver Romance and Other Pieces: Tales and Sketches") by Hawthorne, Nathaniel

For national purposes they are very well, and government ought to have kept them to themselves, for those objects; but they play the devil with merchants.

From Nature and Human Nature by Haliburton, Thomas Chandler

Terran life-forms could play the devil with alien ecological systems—very much to humanity's benefit.

From This World Is Taboo by Leinster, Murray

Still it is pretty clear that this eccentric luminary will play the devil with their system.

From The Greville Memoirs A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV, Vol. II by Reeve, Henry

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023