Search the Dictionary

A fiend or incubus formerly supposed to cause trouble in sleep.

Not courteous or kind; harsh; rude; uncivil; as, a rough temper. A fiend, a fury, pitiless and rough. Shak. A surly boatman, rough as wayes or winds. Prior.

versary of man; The Devil, or Prince of darkness; the chief of the fallen angels; the archfiend. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Luke x. 18.

One of bad disposition; a fiend. [Colloq.]

than done." Old Proverb. "As soon as it might be." Chaucer. She finished, and the subtle fiend his lore Soon learned. Milton.

preparing or eating food. "Therefore behoveth him a full long spoon That shall eat with a fiend," thus heard I say. Chaucer. He must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil. Shak.

ber he stalked him full still. Chaucer. [Bertran] stalks close behind her, like a witch's fiend, Pressing to be employed. Dryden.

fair way of being routed, he stickles betwixt the remainder of God's host and the race of fiends. Dryden.

A female demon or fiend. See Succubus. Though seeming in shape a woman natural Was a fiend of the kind that succubæ some call. Mir. for Mag.

A demon or fiend; especially, a lascivious spirit supposed to have sexual intercourse with the men by night; a succuba. Cf. Incubus.

pertaining to a thrall; in the condition of a thrall; bond; enslaved. [Obs.] Spenser. The fiend that would make you thrall and bond. Chaucer.

state of being troubled; disturbance; agitation; uneasiness; vexation; calamity. Lest the fiend . . . some new trouble raise. Milton. Foul whisperings are abroad; unnatural deeds Do breed unnatural troubles. Shak.

s to the feet; to move, sinking at each step, as in water, mud, sand, etc. So eagerly the fiend . . . With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. Milton.