The act of tormenting, harassing, or teasing someone; cooking food with spicy seasonings.
Present participle of 'devil' as a verb. 'Devil' as a verb means to torment (14th century) or to cook with hot spices (19th century, from the heat being devilish).
The verb 'to devil' gave us 'deviling' and 'devilled' food, but the tormenting sense is much older. When we 'devil' food with cayenne, we're using a 400-year-old metaphor about heat and malevolence.
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