Billy Devil n Also Old Billy Devil Cf Billy Hell n
The devil—usu used in intensive comparisons and other idiomatic phrr; see quots.
1937 WI State Jrl. (Madison) 14 Nov sports sec 2/4, Purdue has some real streamlined backs there. . . They can run like the billy-devil and how they can hit. 1956 in 1980 Still Run for Elbertas 83 KY, Mother threw up her hands. “You’re as stubborn as Old Billy Devil!” she cried. 1969 DARE (Qu. CC8, Other names for the devil) Inf KY21, Billy Devil. 1994 (1998) Graham ’Til Judgment 145 cOK (as of 1920s), She rubbed the house shoe on her left foot and grimaced. “Stubbed m’ toes. They hurt like Billy Devil. All six of ’em.” “Aw, you’re spoofing,” I retorted. “Nobody except circus freaks got six toes.”