subs. (colloquial).—1. A vexatious person; and (2) ruin. TO GO TO THE MISCHIEF = to go to the bad. Hence, WHAT, WHO, or WHERE THE MISCHIEF = what, who, or where the hell, or the devil; TO PLAY THE MISCHIEF = to play havoc; to disorder; WITH A MISCHIEF = with a vengeance.
1614. JONSON, Bartholomew Fair, i. WHAT THE MISCHIEF do you come with her? or she with you?
1630. TAYLOR (‘The Water Poet’), Works [NARES]. Will in a little time make her encrease with a vengeance, and multiply WITH A MISCHIEFE.
1818. S. E. FERRIER, Marriage, xv. Boys may GO TO THE MISCHIEF, and be good for something—if girls go, they’re good for nothing I know of.
1822. SCOTT, The Fortunes of Nigel, xxvii. Bide down, WITH A MISCHIEF TO YE, bide down!
1885. Morning Post, 5 Feb. These move slowly through the camp, their centrifugal force PLAYING THE MISCHIEF, blowing everything to pieces, knocking down tents, carrying them off 100 yards, and generally causing a good deal of bad language.
1892. Tit-Bits, 17 Sept., p. 19, col. 3. ‘What will our wives say when we get home?’ ‘Let them say what they want to; mine will tell me to GO TO THE MISCHIEF,’ responded number two.
1892. KIPLING, Barrack-Room Ballads, ‘Gunga Din.’ You ’eathen, WHERE THE MISCHIEF ’ave you been?
3. (old).—See quot.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. MISCHIEF. A man loaded with mischief, i.e., a man with his wife on his back.
