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play the devil with

  1. Upset, ruin, make a mess of, as in This weather plays the devil with my aching joints, or Wine stains play the devil with a white tablecloth. This allusion to diabolical mischief is heard more in Britain than in America. [Mid-1500s] Also see the synonym play havoc.

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

I’ll play the devil with her and teach her how to treat her husband another time, for ‘a woman who has not been beaten is like a broken mill.’

But these blamed fancy flips are what play the devil with a fellow.

Economy would play the devil with me, Harvey.

Foreign languages and foreign cooking and all that would play the devil with me.

Bedevil, be-dev′il, v.t. to throw into confusion: to 'play the devil' with: to torment: to treat with devilish malignity.—pass. to be possessed of a devil, to be devil-rid.—n.

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