devilry

He possessed both the winemaking skills and an appetite for devilry.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025

That makes a person wonder what manner of devilry they're concealing; after all, if there's literally nothing to see in front of us, surely it's hiding elsewhere.

From Salon ● Feb. 12, 2022

How about you, dear reader: Who are the sword and sorcery protagonists that scratch your itch for devilry and adventure?

From Washington Post ● Sep. 17, 2021

Whereas the dread of devilry, in “The Witch,” was rooted deep in the faith of the early settlers, “The Lighthouse” has to create its own mythology as it goes along.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 18, 2019

But when the eighth came round, a certain Phoinikian adventurer came too, a plausible rat, who had already done plenty of devilry in the world.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

With it, too, the idle can pass many an hour, which otherwise he would have given, not to work, but to extravagant devilries.

From The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness Being a Complete Guide for a Gentleman's Conduct in all his Relations Towards Society by Cecil B. Hartley

Just about that time, the devilries of war between the Emperor and King had been stirred up again, so that I found him much harassed by anxieties.

From Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini by John Addington Symonds

For kingly opportunities    Right many have sighed; How best to bear its devilries    Those learn who have tried!

From Satires of Circumstance, lyrics and reveries with miscellaneous pieces by Thomas Hardy

I have had enough of these small devilries, like Louis Napoleon and Victor Emmanuel—I am sick of Mazzini and his petty followers.

From Cornelius O'Dowd Upon Men And Women And Other Things In General by Charles James Lever

The advance towards Bapaume was of special interest to R.F.C. squadrons on the Somme, for the town had been a troublesome centre of anti-aircraft devilries.

From Cavalry of the Clouds by Alan Bott