Deviltry

Further south, in the area north of the Aisne river, west of Laon, probably the worst example of this German deviltry is to be found. ❋ Unknown (1917)

If this kind of deviltry works, we can expect local Democrat district attorneys to routinely indict any Republican who is successfully turning out the electorate for the Republican Party. ❋ Unknown (2005)

He's in here, trying to make up his mind what kind of deviltry to get into next. ❋ Piper, H. Beam (1962)

I was a boy at West Point I was court-martialed for tolerating some youthful "deviltry" of my classmates, in which I took no part myself, and was sentenced to be dismissed. ❋ John M. Schofield (N/A)

But one of the candidates, perhaps by way of excuse for his failure, wrote to his parents some account of the "deviltry" in which my classmates had indulged that day. ❋ John M. Schofield (N/A)

It was dark enough for any kind of deviltry in that four-hundred foot gash in the earth; the sinking moon lightened only a strip along the east wall, near the top; lower down, smoke mingling with the natural gloom cast an impenetrable veil from bank to bank; not a breath of air stirred the tomblike stillness. ❋ Bertrand W. Sinclair (1926)

"I would really like to know what especial kind of deviltry you young fry are up to this time," said Uncle ❋ Lucy Maud (1911)

"I would really like to know what especial kind of deviltry you young fry are up to this time," said Uncle Roger one evening, as he passed through the orchard with his gun on his shoulder, bound for the swamp. ❋ Unknown (1908)

We can trust this to be the plain truth in regard to the Liverpool consulate, and if twenty-five thousand a year was ever obtained from it, there must have been some kind of deviltry in the business. ❋ Stearns, Frank P (1906)

No tellin 'how long they may take or what kind of deviltry that camp booze may work 'em up to. ❋ Unknown (1906)

What I think, is this: that he simply followed me to the Gare de Lyon for the "deviltry" of the thing, and because he'd nothing better to do. ❋ Unknown (1901)

And I suppose "deviltry" developed from the old devilry. ❋ Unknown (1979)

I wish it were possible for me to put down the gesture, the grace of language, the lightness of touch, the deliberate choice of one word over another, with which this talk was flowered; but I can, at least, state that it had to me a living kind of deviltry in it that raised me out of my surroundings, as a play or great music might have done, or the clash of some great event. ❋ Elinor Macartney Lane (1886)

Flush with the glow of last week's victory, let us not forget that these nasty shenanigans have gone on for a long time, and Bloomsbury is certainly not alone in the deviltry of its practices. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Charleston, S.C., was the setting for one of the more notable indictments against female deviltry: "A Woman is a Sometime Thing" in George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess." ❋ Anthony Paletta (2011)

But how was he to know they had brewed-up some deviltry? ❋ Dj Barber (2011)

No one at the table suspected that Dick deliberately dangled the bait of a new trend to the conversation, nor did Leo dream afterward that it was the master-craft and deviltry of Dick rather than his own question that changed the subject when he demanded to know what part the female sporting dominants played in the race. ❋ Unknown (2010)

However, since man, in the individual or in the aggregate, has been so fashioned that he goes through life blissfully obtuse to the deeper subtleties of his womankind, so the men of Forty Mile failed to divine the inner deviltry of Joy Molineau. ❋ Unknown (2010)