devel

See also: Devel

English

Noun

devel (plural devels)

1. (Scotland) Alternative spelling of devvel (a hard blow)

Verb

devel (third-person singular simple present devels, present participle develling, simple past and past participle develled)

1. (Scotland) Alternative spelling of devvel.

Anagrams

• Delve, delve

Middle English

Alternative forms

• deovel, deevel, devil, dyvel, devul, devyl, devell, devyll, deul, dewel, deyle, devull, dele

Etymology

From Old English dēofol, dēoful, from earlier dīobul, from Proto-West Germanic *diubul, from Ancient Greek διάβολος (diábolos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdeːvəl/, /ˈdɛvəl/, /deːl/

Noun

devel (plural develes or defles or develen)

1. Satan, Lucifer (in Early ME, without the definite article)
   • a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Summoner's Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, lines 1693–1696:

     Right so as bees out swarmen from an hyve, / Out of the develes ers ther gonne dryve / Twenty thousand freres on a route / And thurghout helle swarmed al aboute...

     Just like bees swarm from a hive / Out of the devil's arse there were driven / Twenty thousand friars on a rout / And throughout hell they swarmed all about...

2. A devil; an evil creature that resides in the Christian hell.
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, James 2:19, page 110r, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     þou bileueſt þat o god is .· þou doiſt wel / ⁊ deuelis bileuen .· ⁊ tremblen

     You believe that there's one God; you're doing well. But devils believe, and tremble.

3. A pagan or heretical god; a deity considered to be false or an idol.
4. (figurative) A malicious or sinful person; one who is evil.
5. (rare) A fantastic beast or monstrous creature.

Derived terms

• develiche
• develissh
• develrye
• devely

Descendants

• English: devil (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: deil, deel, deevil
• Yola: deevil, deel (syncopated)

References

• “dẹ̄vel, devel, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 12 July 2018.