subs. phr. (common).—The devil. Also THE LORD HARRY. See SKIPPER.—GROSE (1785).
1687. CONGREVE, The Old Batchelor, ii. 2. By THE LORD HARRY he says true.
1764. O’HARA, Midas, ii. 1.
| I swear by THE LORD HARRY, | |
| That moment madam’s coffin’d—Her I’ll marry. |
1811. POOLE, Hamlet Travestie, i. 1. I’ll speak to it, should ev’n OLD HARRY dare me.
1849. BULWER-LYTTON, The Caxtons, VIII. ch. ii. By THE LORD HARRY! muttered the policeman, if he ben’t going to sleep again!
d. 1866. F. S. MAHONY (‘Father Prout’), Reliques, ‘Vert-Vert, the Parrot,’ trans. of GRESSET.
| Nay sometimes, too, by THE LORD HARRY! | |
| He’d pull their caps and ‘scapulary.’ |
2. (old).—See quot. 1696.
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v. OLD HARRY, a composition used by Vintners, when they bedevil their Wines.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
TO PLAY OLD HARRY, verb. phr. (common).—To play the devil: see PLAY.
1837. MARRYAT, Snarleyyow; or The Dog Fiend, xlvii. Smash my timbers, but they’ve PLAYED OLD HARRY with the rigging. We must knot and splice.
1884. W. C. RUSSELL, Jack’s Courtship, xii. I’m afraid he’ll now take such steps to stop all chance of my meeting or communicating with his daughter as will PLAY OLD HARRY with my hopes.
