deviltry

/ˈdɛv.əl.tɹi/

Etymology

Variant of devilry, influenced by gallantry.

deviltry means devilry. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 70 out of 100.

Why this word is great

DEVILTRY — [Noun] Reckless, wicked, or mischievous behavior, often of a supernatural or diabolical character. A variant (late 18th century) of 'devilry', from Middle English 'develrye', from 'devil' (evil spirit, the Devil) + the suffix '-ry' (denoting condition, practice, or art). Unlike “mischief,” with its boyish pranks and diluted malice, or “gallantry,” the chivalric ideal whose suffix it inverts, deviltry is a conscious covenant with the forbidden. It is the sulfurous scent after a pact is signed in shadow, the cold, precise logic of a trap set for spectacle, or the deliberate flaw woven by a weaver’s cursed needle—a testament to malice that grins with the purity of inventive sport.

noun

Devilry.“The poor girl had a right to her chance, and he should not really alter anything by taking it away from her; for was she not the artist to the tips of her tresses (the ambassadress never in the world), and would she not take it out in something else if one were to make her deviate? So certain was that irrepressible deviltry to insist ever on its own.”