E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Devil and the Deep Sea (Between the).
Between Scylla and Charybdis; between two evils, each equally hazardous. The allusion seems to be to the herd of swine and the devils called Legion.
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“In the matter of passing from one part of the vessel to another when she was rolling, we were indeed between the devil and the deep sea.”—Nineteenth Century, April, 1891, p. 664.
