devillingdevilingn.
/ˈdɛvl̩ɪŋ/, /ˈdɛv(ᵻ)lɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈdɛvl̩ɪŋ/, /ˈdɛv(ə)lɪŋ/ 1. The action preparing or cooking food (esp. meat) with spicy seasonings or condiments such as pepper, paprika, or mustard. Also: the preparation of devilled eggs.
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1821 ‘J. Careless’ Old Eng. 'Squire i. 14 In devilling and grilling the cook was well skill'd.
1846 A. Soyer Gastron. Regenerator 688 The remains of a goose is fit only for hashing, or devilling.
1912 Mid-Pacific Mag. Aug. 172/1 To secure the eggs for the deviling it may be necessary that the castaway lower himself over the cliffs... Sea bird eggs must be deviled to be entirely palatable.
1996 Guardian 29 June (Weekend Suppl.) 39/6 Grill the kidneys for a minute or so. Take them out and roll them in the devilling mixture.
2. Textiles. The action or practice of breaking up or opening cotton or wool offcuts, of tearing old rags to pieces, etc., using any of various machines called a devil (see devil n. 11).
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1836 Preston Chron. & Lancs. Advertiser 5 Nov. Progress of cotton... Plates 2 and 3 give an exact and perfectly graphic view of the willowing or devilling [i.e. of cotton], and the preparation for, and operation of the lap frame.
1837 Champion & Weekly Herald 30 Apr. Then, having done its duty, like those of an old coat, the materials of which your English news is to be composed, will undergo ‘devilling’, be imported here as new.
1868 T. Newbigging Hist. Forest Rossendale viii. i. 209 These places [sc. mills]..were of small dimensions, because they were restricted in their use to but two branches of the [Woollen] trade—those of Devilling and Carding.
1907 Stone 27 92/1 This company does all its own crushing, devilling and carding, and sells its waste to users of asbestos for boiler-pipe covers and the like.
2004 A. Crocker & J. Castillo Fernández in R. Graziaplena et al. Paper as Medium of Cultural Heritage 384 A timber machine-house stretching over the river and the devilling house, with powerful machinery for tearing rags, were completely destroyed.
3. Originally Law slang. The action or practice of carrying out research or other professional work in the name of someone else, esp. a lawyer or author. See devil v. 5.
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society > law > legal profession > [noun] > occupation as barrister > working as junior counsel
devilling1867
society > leisure > the arts > literature > art or occupation of writer or author > [noun] > action or practice of composing > hack-writing
hackwork1824
hack writing1832
devilling1867
manufacturing1893
ghosting1903
ghostwriting1927
1867 London Rev. 31 Aug. 234/2 The result of the system of devilling as it is carried on at present, is that the client is unfairly treated.
1888 Star 8 Aug. Devilling is the term used in the literary trade for sweating.
1894 Westm. Gaz. 7 Feb. 8/1 After all, devilling at the Bar has the same consolation as fagging at school. First, you fag for others; but in the end you have other devils to fag for you.
1928 Univ. Missouri Bull. Law Ser. 39 54 At the end of this period of ‘deviling’, which often extends to five years or more, he can hire chambers and launch out for himself.
1967 Times 19 Apr. 8/2 Although they do a great deal of essential devilling for M.P.s, their pay compares unfavourably with civil servants' pay.
1993 Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Aug. 9/2 His devilling for John Jones ended nastily in a hip-breaking fall at Oxford railway station.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1821