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Glite Dictionary
the devil a one

the devil a one

9.9
Not a single person or thing is present
  • idiom
  • UK
translation icon : ninguno
  • The devil a one of his old classmates recognized him at the reunion.

Examples

  • She promised help, but the devil a one of her friends actually turned up.

  • I didn't see the devil a one of them at the party.

  • I searched all day, but the devil a one of my keys could be found.

  • Not the devil a one showed up!

  • The devil a one of my neighbors attended the meeting last night.

  • The devil a one of her suggestions was taken seriously during the discussion.

  • The devil a one of the participants finished the race.

Antonyms

abundance
91 3.3

A large amount of something, more than you need

many
9 1.0

A large number of people or things you can count

Surface Forms

the devil a one subject case

Morphology

the + devil + a + one

The meaning 'not a single one' cannot be derived from the literal senses of 'the', 'devil', 'a' and 'one' — here 'devil' functions as an expletive/intensifier rather than contributing a compositional meaning. This dialectal idiom is unpredictable and would not be recoverable by a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words, so it should be classified as opaque.

Etymology

The devil a one comes from an old way of talking where people used the word devil to make a very strong 'no', as if even the devil would not have one. So the phrase came to mean 'not a single one'.