> as lemmas

(a) As an impatient amplification of away adv., adj., and n.; further intensified as a twenty devil way, on aller (also alder) devil way, on aller twenty devil way and variants. Obsolete. [ < a prep.¹ (in early use also in prep., on prep.) + devil n. + way n.¹ (compare way adv.), after away adv.; apparently originally showing the genitive plural of devil n. (i.e. the reflex of Old English dēofla ). For genitive plural alre , alder see discussion at all adj., pron., n., adv., and conj. and compare alder- prefix.

The phrase in quot. c1225 appears to be a further extension of aller devil way , but its exact sense is uncertain. It is possible that diche is a form of ditch n.¹, used to invoke the pit of hell; however, it has also been suggested that the text is corrupt, in which case it may not show an example of this phrase at all (see the discussion in S. R. T. O. d'Ardenne Þe Liflade ant te Passiun of Seinte Iuliene (1961) 147).]