devil

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun In many religions, the major personified spirit of evil, ruler of Hell, and foe of God. Used with the.
• noun A subordinate evil spirit; a demon.
• noun A wicked or malevolent person.
• noun A person.
• noun An energetic, mischievous, daring, or clever person.
• noun Printing A printer's devil.
• noun A device or machine, especially one having teeth or spikes and used for tearing.
• noun An outstanding example, especially of something difficult or bad.
• noun A severe reprimand or expression of anger.
• noun Informal Used as an intensive.
• transitive verb To season (food) heavily.
• transitive verb To annoy, torment, or harass.
• transitive verb To tear up (cloth or rags) in a toothed machine.
• idiom (between the devil and the deep blue sea) Between two equally unacceptable choices.
• idiom (full of the devil) Very energetic, mischievous, daring, or clever.
• idiom (give the devil his due) To give credit to a disagreeable or malevolent person.
• idiom (go to the devil) To be unsuccessful; fail.
• idiom (go to the devil) To become depraved.
• idiom (go to the devil) Used in the imperative to express anger or impatience.
• idiom (play the devil with) To upset or ruin.
• idiom (the devil take the hindmost) Let each person follow self-interest, leaving others to fare as they may.
• idiom (the devil to pay) Trouble to be faced as a result of an action.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A false accuser; a traducer or slanderer.
• noun [This use of the original term διάβολος occurs several times in the New Testament (1 Tim. iii. 11; 2 Tim. iii. 3; Tit. ii. 3), but this is the only instance in which, when so used, it is rendered devil in the English versions.]
• noun In Christian theology, a powerful spirit of evil, otherwise called Satan (the adversary or opposer): with the definite article, and always in the singular.
• noun [Used in the English versions of the New Testament to translate the Greek δαιμόνιον and δαίμων, a spirit or demon: see demon.] A subordinate evil spirit at enmity with God, and having power to afflict man both with bodily disease and with spiritual corruption; one of the malignant spirits employed by Satan as his agents in his work of evil; a demon.
• noun A false god; an idol.
• noun A person resembling a devil or demon in character; a malignantly wicked or cruel person; a fierce or fiendish person: often used with merely expletive or exaggerative force: as, he's the very devil for reckless dash.
• noun A fellow; a rogue: used generally with an epithet (little, poor, etc.), and expressing slight contempt or pity: as, a shrewd little devil; a poor devil (an unfortunate fellow).
• noun As an expletive: The deuce: now always with the article the, but formerly sometimes with the article a, or used absolutely, preceding a sentence or phrase, and serving, like deuce and other words of related import, as an ejaculation expressing sudden emotion, as surprise, wonder, vexation, or disgust.
• noun Before the indefinite article with a noun, an emphatic negative: as, devil a bit (not a bit). Compare fiend, Scotch fient, in similar use.
• noun An errand-boy in a printing-office. See printer's devil, below.
• noun A name of several instruments or mechanical contrivances.
• noun Among jewelers, a bunch of matted wire on which the parts ot lockets are placed for soldering.
• noun Nautical, the seam of a ship which margins the waterways: so called from its awkwardness of access in calking. Hence the phrase the devil to pay, etc. See below.
• noun The Venus's-comb, Scandix Pecten, from the long tapering beaks of the fruit.
• noun over which, when first finished, the devil is supposed to have looked with a fierce and terrific countenance, as incensed and alarmed at this costly instance of devotion. Ray thinks it more probable that it took its rise from a small image of the devil placed on the top of Lincoln College, Oxford, over which he looks, seemingly with much fury.” (Grose, Local Proverbs.)
• To make devilish, or like a devil.
• In cookery, to season highly with mustard, pepper, etc., and broil.
• To bother; torment.
• To cut up, as cloth or rags, by means of a machine called a devil.
• To do professional work (literary or legal) for another who receives all the credit, and sometimes also the remuneration or fee; act as a literary or legal devil.
• noun A junior counsel who assists his superior, usually without financial reward.
• noun In mathematics, a curve whose equation is y — x + ay + bx = o.
• noun A ‘literary’ or professional ‘hack’; one who does professional work for another who gets all the credit.
• noun Gunpowder moistened with water or alcohol so as to destroy the granulation and form a paste: used as a sort of firework by boys, and as a priming or fuse.
• noun A moving whirlwind carrying up columns of sand, such as are common in India, Persia, and countries having dry seasons: sometimes called dancing-devil or desert devil, and known in upper India by the local name bagoola (Hind. bagū la).
• noun A highly seasoned dish of crabs, chicken, eggs, or the like, cooked together.
• noun The wheel-bug. Also called the devil's riding-horse.