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play the devil with



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Idioms and Phrases

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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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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