Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Needs must when the devil drives

 

I was zipping along writing a scene when the phrase needs must when the devil drives floated into my mind. It sounded like it would fit right in with what I was fashioning on the page, but I needed to be sure that (1) I understood the meaning and (2) it was "period" enough.

>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

>

>
>
>
>

According to World Wide Words, this phrase—or rather, an early permutation—appears in 1420 in John Lydgate's Assembly of Gods, as follows: "He must nedys go that the deuell dryves." Something similar shows up in Shakespeare's All’s Well that Ends Well: "My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on by the flesh; and he must needs go that the devil drives."

World Wide Words adds that the semi-archaic needs must is an idiom in and of itself, meaning "necessity compels," and provided a nice definition of the entire phrase:

[I]f the devil drives you, you have no choice but to go, or in other words, sometimes events compel you to do something you would much rather not.

If you are curious about needs must, you can read more about it here, on The Grammarphobia Blog.

My takeaway: My fictional 1882 character could definitely think needs must when the devil drives, take a deep breath, and do what must be done.

Who's driving now?
By Roberts [artist] This file comes from the Bodleian Libraries, a group of research libraries in Oxford University. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47060855