play Old Harry | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic)Toplay the devil; to make mischief.1901,Miles Franklin, “’Possum Gully Left Behind. Hurrah! Hurrah!”, inMy Brilliant Career, Edinburgh; London:William Blackwood and Sons,→OCLC,page60: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 hadplayed Old Harryeverywhere.1916,John Buchan,Greenmantle:Blenkiron and I have been moving in the best circles as skilled American engineers who are going toplay Old Harrywith the British on the Tigris.1962,J. L. Austin,How to do things with words:I distinguish five more general classes: but I am far from equally happy about all of them. They are, however, quite enough toplay Old Harrywith two fetishes which I admit to an inclination to play Old Harry with, viz. (1) the true/false fetish, (2) the value/fact fetish.'

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