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speak of the devil

An expression sometimes used when a person mentioned in the current conversation happens to arrive on the scene.

Etymology:

  • Variation of “Speak of the devil and he shall appear,” which can be traced back to “Talk of the Devil, and he’s presently at your elbow” attested in 1666.
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Submitted on September 01, 2009

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谈到魔鬼

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Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to speak of the devil

speak out of both sides of one’s mouthlucky devilspeak upspeak outspeak now or forever hold your peacespeak forspeak softly and carry a big stickspeak of the devil and he appearsspeak of the devil and he shall appearidle hands are the devil's playthingsspeak tospeak tospeak forspeak to

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