Meaning of the Devil take the hindmost | Babel Free

Definitions

Phrase. [C2]

Examples

“Completely unknown territory lay⟳ outside; puzzling, impossible networks of Underground trains and moving staircases; buses that jerked to a stop⟳ and barely gave you time to get⟳ on before speeding away. No time to ask⟳ questions; no time to ask⟳ for answers to be repeated; it was all quick and go and don’t come⟳ again. London’s for the thrusting and the Devil take⟳ the hindmost.”

““We’ll trot to the gate, side by side, and then we’ll race⟳ straight down the road, and the Devil take⟳ the hindmost,” shouted the Grand Vizier as fiercely as he could to his laughing partner.”

“As his second-in-command cantered away, Johnson looked back down the column, thinking of the boy and the men he’d dispatched to look⟳ for him. And the Devil take⟳ the hindmost, he thought bleakly.”

“"Oh, don't talk⟳ to me about your socialists, I've got no patience with them," she cried. "It only means that another lot of lazy loafers will make⟳ a good thing out of the working classes. My motto is, leave⟳ me alone; I don't want⟳ anyone interfering with me; I'll make⟳ the best of a bad job, and the devil take⟳ the hindmost."”

“‘Abandon them to their fate, you say⟳?’ He looked over at his first mate, at the lines of experience⟳ etched into his face⟳, and knew that he was right. ‘Run⟳ before the storm and the devil take⟳ the hindmost.’ He’d lived by that rule⟳ since he’d sailed from the Port of London on that bitter winter night long ago. It had saved his life many a time since, and yet …”

“And if fate should turn⟳ her back on them, or turn⟳ away from them, leaving them to their own⟳ devices, and should they find⟳ themselves be sore afraid, then they would simply sail⟳ away to the other side of the world. They would ride⟳ like⟳ the wind. They would sail⟳ once more into the breach and damn the torpedos! God save⟳ the Queen! And the devil take⟳ the hindmost!”

CEFR level