A/the devil of a job, nuisance, fellow, etc. old-fashioned informal
This idiom is used to emphasize the level of difficulty of the tasks mentioned.
Used to imply some tasks that make you struggle with or make you feel annoyed
We had a devil of a job dealing with those problems.
I'm having a devil of a job moving these heavy boxes.
This issue is a devil of a nuisance, isn't it?
To punish someone or something harshly
This idiom is often used to express that you should accept an unpleasant situation or event because you cannot change it.
Once something has been done, you can do nothing but face the consequences.
The verbs or auxiliary verbs placed before this idiom should be conjugated according to its tense.
The first expression dated from the mid-1700s.