Idiom- Speak of the devil

Whitney Houston,

Updated On May 20, 2021

Contents

1 Speak of the devil- Idiom of the day

Speak of the devil- Idiom of the day

Meaning:

said when a person appears just after being mentioned.

History:

“Speak of the devil” is the shorter version of the English-language idiom “Speak of the devil and he doth appear” or “speak of the devil and he shall appear”. The form “talk of the devil” is used in England. It is used when an object or person who is a topic of discussion unexpectedly becomes present during the conversation. It can also be used about a topic that becomes relevant, such as the onset of rain or a car breaking down. Used in this sense it can be seen as an alternative to the phrase “tempting fate“.

The phrase comes from the 16th century and for a long time it implied the prohibition of mentioning the devil.

Examples:

Speak of the devil! We all were just talking about you.
Did you hear about david?, Oh! Speak of the devil and here he comes!
The weather seems bad, it might rain today.Oh! Speak of the devil and here it comes!

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Whitney Houston

Houston has been in the field of IELTS for about eight years and has been associated with IELTSMaterial for the last two years. As an IELTS Expert, her contributions to the articles have been informative and original. Whitney has written about 200 informative articles for IELTSMaterial.com, which enables students to learn from her expertise. Whitney is also a good researcher, and thus any new information about the IELTS test can be found on our website, thanks to her. Whitney completed her graduation in Creative Writing at Glasgow University, Belfast. Having seen her foreign peers struggling to prepare for IELTS to find jobs abroad kindled her, and she began learning the techniques and strategies to crack the IELTS test to help her peers.