Meaning of play Old Harry | Babel Free

Definitions

To play the devil; to make mischief.

idiomatic

Examples

“By his accent and innocent style I detected he was not a colonial, so I got him to relate his history. He was an Englishman by birth, but had been to America, Spain, New Zealand, Tasmania, &c.; by his own make out had ever been a man of note, and had played Old Harry everywhere.”

“Blenkiron and I have been moving in the best circles as skilled American engineers who are going to play Old Harry with the British on the Tigris.”

“I distinguish five more general classes: but I am far from equally happy about all of them. They are, however, quite enough to play Old Harry with two fetishes which I admit to an inclination to play Old Harry with, viz. (1) the true/false fetish, (2) the value/fact fetish.'”

CEFR level