| 单词 | what the deuce? |
| 释义 | > as lemmaswhat the (†what a) deuce? b. The personification or spirit of mischief, the devil. Originally, in exclamatory and interjectional phrases; often as a mere expression of impatience or emphasis: as, what the (†what a) deuce?, so who, how, where, when the deuce?, (the) deuce take it!, the deuce is in it! Later, in other phrases parallel to those under devil n.: to play the deuce (with), the deuce and all, the deuce to pay, a deuce of a mess, etc.In the quotations under a (to which the earliest instances belong), ‘plague’ or ‘mischief’ is evidently the sense: cf. the parallel and earlier ‘A mischief (a pox, or a plague) on him!’ ‘Mischief (or plague) take you!’ ‘What a mischief (pox, plague)!’ This meaning is also possible in those under b1: cf. the parallel ‘What the mischief (or the plague)!’ But mischief was personified already before 1700, and ‘the Mischief’ was in the late 18th cent. a frequent euphemism for ‘the devil’; that deuce was already taken in this sense in 1708 is evident from Motteux's use of it as = French diantre, in b2. In the other quotations in the same group, ‘deuce’ plainly takes the place of ‘devil’ in well-known phrases; but such clearly personified uses as ‘the deuce knows’, ‘to go to the deuce’, appear late. ΘΚΠ the world > the supernatural > deity > a devil > the Devil or Satan > [noun] devileOE Beelzebubc950 the foul ghosteOE SatanOE warlockOE SatanasOE worsea1200 unwinea1225 wondc1250 quedea1275 pucka1300 serpenta1300 dragon1340 shrew1362 Apollyon1382 the god of this worldc1384 Mahoundc1400 leviathan1412 worsta1425 old enemyc1449 Ruffin1567 dismal1570 Plotcocka1578 the Wicked One1582 goodman1603 Mahu1603 foul thief1609 somebody1609 legiona1616 Lord of Flies1622 walliman1629 shaitan1638 Old Nicka1643 Nick1647 unsel?1675 old gentleman1681 old boy1692 the gentleman in black1693 deuce1694 Black Spy1699 the vicious one1713 worricow1719 Old Roger1725 Lord of the Flies1727 Simmie1728 Old Scratch1734 Old Harry1777 Old Poker1784 Auld Hornie1786 old (auld), ill thief1789 old one1790 little-good1821 Tom Walker1833 bogy1840 diabolarch1845 Old Ned1859 iniquity1899 1694 W. Congreve Double-dealer i. i. 2 The Deuce take me if there were three good things said. 1733 J. Swift Epist. to Lady 11 Deuce is in you, Mr. Dean. 1757 T. Smollett Reprisal i. viii What the deuce are you afraid of? 1776 S. J. Pratt Pupil of Pleasure II. 34 How the duce came she to marry? 1827 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey III. v. xii. 230 What the deuce is the matter with the man? 1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. iii. 55 How the deuce did you get by the lodge, Joe? < as lemmas |
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