Devil to pay

Origin of: Devil to pay

Devil to pay

The allusion here is to some pact with the devil, in the sense of having to pay the devil for services rendered. It is usually used in the form, “There’ll be the devil pay if….” and its usage is common from the 17th century onwards. Cervantes in Don Quixote, translated into English by 1703, uses the following construction, “Here’s the devil-and-all to pay.” 'Hell to pay' is a slightly a more modern version of 'devil to pay' and dates from the late 18th/early 19th century. Some claim a nautical origin because 'to pay' can also mean 'to smear with tar' and the ‘devils’ were the seams between the planking on a ship’s hull, which had to be caulked with tar from time to time to keep them watertight. The full form of the nautical expression is "the devil to pay and no pitch hot", which is first attested from the 18th century. There is no doubt that sailors did use this expression, but this usage only appeared a long time after the usage of 'devil to pay' in its original, literal sesnse, as noted above. See also 'Between the devil and the deep blue sea'.