devillerdevilern.
/ˈdɛvl̩ə/, /ˈdɛv(ᵻ)lə/, U.S. /ˈdɛvl̩ər/, /ˈdɛv(ə)lər/ 1. Textiles.
a. A worker who operates any of various machines called a devil (see devil n. 11) to break up or open cotton or wool offcuts, to tear old rags to pieces, etc. Now historical.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > treating or processing textile fabric > [noun] > other processes > one who
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1837 Champion & Weekly Herald 9 Apr. 240/5 John Pilling and Richard Haworth, of Waterfoot..devillers of cotton waste.
1874 Manch. Guardian 3 Aug. 6 The term is applied to those persons who tend hard-waste breakers in cotton manufactories. The machines are termed devils, and in this district the person who tends them a deviller.
1946 Brit. Med. Bull. 4 399/1 Others were from..the cotton-waste trade.., including a ‘deviller’ who had been breaking up the waste for 63 years.
2006 Lima (Ohio) News 28 Feb. a2/5 Was there a deviller in your family tree?.. In the textile industry, a ‘devil’ was a machine that ripped cloth rags for recycling, and a ‘deviller’ was its operator.
b. Any of various types of machine used to break up or open cotton or wool offcuts, to tear old rags to pieces, etc.; = devil n. 11. rare.
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1885 Leeds Mercury 23 June 3 A rag-shaking machine called a ‘deviller’.
1966 Internat. Textile Bull. Spinning No. 2. 22/3 This helps to prevent roller breakages and shortened staple in the material, and it extends the life of the deviller covering and protects the main driving motor.
2. Originally Law slang. A person employed to carry out research or other professional work for someone else, esp. a lawyer or author; = devil n. 8.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > writer or author > [noun] > hack
hack writer1711
garreteer1720
hack authora1734
hack1798
truckster1843
hodman1849
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1893 Athenæum 5 Aug. 182/1 Sometimes the delver, or ‘deviller’, nods.
1893 Glasgow Herald 22 Dec. 7/3 A new rule made by the Old Bailey barmen to prohibit the dividing of criminal briefs when the ‘deviller’ is engaged elsewhere.
1968 M. W. Roskill Dolce's Aretino & Venetian Art Theory of Cinquecento 39 A capable literary deviler, to whom humanist projects could be turned over for competent execution.
1992 Times 26 June 13/1 The Foreign Secretary's deviller..attends many wearisome meetings.
2006 D. Dickinson Death called to Bar (2007) viii. 111 He's a deviller, mama, you know, one of those people who prepares the cases for the barristers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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