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what the Devil

intj

what the Devil

intj

Etymology Inherited from Middle English what þe devel, what devel.

1

Idiomatic, Mildly, Vulgar Used to add emphasis to “what” when beginning a question.

  • What the Devil have you done to the horse?
  • What the devyll hast thou on thy fyste? An owle?c. 1515–1516, John Skelton, Magnyfycence; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 166, line 922:
Synonyms
what the dickens, what on earth, what in God's name

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.