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"Devil Take the Hindmost"

Posted by James Briggs on December 04, 2002

In Reply to: "Devil Take the Hindmost" posted by Vinod on December 04, 2002

: Hello, I was just wondering whether any one might know the meaning of the phrase, "devil take the hindmost". Thanks in advance for any information.

'Let the devil take the hindmost' may well be said when someone doesn't care too much about the consequence of his actions, as long as he comes out well from the affair. The saying comes from late medieval magic. The Devil was supposed to have a school at either Toledo or Salamanca in Spain. The students, at a certain stage of their training, had to run through a subterranean hall. The last one through was seized by the Devil and became his Imp.

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