cheating the devil

Gammerstang commented on the word cheating the devil

(noun/verb) - (1) Softenings of very profane phrases, the mere euphemisms of hard swearing, as od's blood, dash it, see you blowed first, deuce take it, by gosh, and like profane preludes such as boatswains and their mates are wont to use.

--Admiral William Smyth's Sailor's Word-Book, 1867

(2) Dammy boy: an unruly person. In allusion to the habit of excessive use of the word "damn" and general swearing by the man-about town of 16th and 17th centuries.

--Albert Hyamson's Dictionary of English Phrases, 1922

January 16, 2018