a devil of a


a devil of a job

A difficult or frustrating time; much difficulty. I'm having a devil of a job getting this window open—I think it has been painted shut. We had a devil of a job convincing Grandpa to go to the doctor for that bad cough.See also: devil, job, of

a devil of a time

A difficult or frustrating time; much difficulty. I'm having a devil of a time getting this window open—I think it has been painted shut. We had a devil of a time convincing Grandpa to go to the doctor for that bad cough.See also: devil, of, time

devil of a

Also, one devil or the devil of a ; hell of a. Infernally annoying or difficult, as in This is a devil of an assembly job, or She had one devil of a time getting through the traffic, or I had a hell of a morning sitting in that doctor's office. The first expression dates from the mid-1700s. The variant is a couple of decades newer and its precise meaning depends on the context. For example, We had a hell of a time getting here invariably means we had a very difficult or annoying time, but He is one hell of a driver could mean that he is either very good or very bad (see hell of a, def. 2). See also: devil, of

a (or the) devil of a —

something very large or bad of its kind. informal 1919 Katherine Mansfield Letter We had the devil of a great storm last night, lasting for hours, thunder, lightning, rain & I had appalling nightmares! See also: devil, of