"needs must when the devil drives" meaning in English

See needs must when the devil drives in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proverb

Etymology: Needs (“of necessity, necessarily”, adverb) must (“one must”, impersonal) when the devil drives. Head templates: {{en-proverb}} needs must when the devil drives
  1. There is sometimes no choice but to do some specific thing. Synonyms: needs must [short-form], necessity knows no law Translations (there is sometimes no choice but to do something): hätä ei lue lakia (Finnish), was sein muss, muss sein (German), нужда научит калачи есть (nužda naučit kalači jestʹ) (Russian), a la fuerza ahorcan (Spanish), nöden har ingen lag (Swedish), біда навчить коржі з маком їсти (alt: коржі з салом, вареники) (Ukrainian)

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "Needs (“of necessity, necessarily”, adverb) must (“one must”, impersonal) when the devil drives.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "needs must when the devil drives",
      "name": "en-proverb"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1664, Charles Cotton, Scarronides; or, Virgile Travestie:",
          "text": "He needs must goe, the Devil drives.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1623, William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well:",
          "text": "My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on by the flesh; and he must needs go that the devil drives.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1956, Gerald Durrell, “The Talking Flowers”, in My Family and Other Animals, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1959 (1974 printing), →OCLC, page 221:",
          "text": "I doubt we can make it on foot, laden as we are. Dear me! I think we had better have a cab. An extravagance, of course, but needs must where the devil drives, eh?",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "There is sometimes no choice but to do some specific thing."
      ],
      "id": "en-needs_must_when_the_devil_drives-en-proverb-mSapgJ~G",
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          "tags": [
            "short-form"
          ],
          "word": "needs must"
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        {
          "word": "necessity knows no law"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "there is sometimes no choice but to do something",
          "word": "hätä ei lue lakia"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "there is sometimes no choice but to do something",
          "word": "was sein muss, muss sein"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "nužda naučit kalači jestʹ",
          "sense": "there is sometimes no choice but to do something",
          "word": "нужда научит калачи есть"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "there is sometimes no choice but to do something",
          "word": "a la fuerza ahorcan"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "there is sometimes no choice but to do something",
          "word": "nöden har ingen lag"
        },
        {
          "alt": "коржі з салом, вареники",
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "sense": "there is sometimes no choice but to do something",
          "word": "біда навчить коржі з маком їсти"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "needs must when the devil drives"
}
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  "etymology_text": "Needs (“of necessity, necessarily”, adverb) must (“one must”, impersonal) when the devil drives.",
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      "expansion": "needs must when the devil drives",
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        {
          "ref": "1664, Charles Cotton, Scarronides; or, Virgile Travestie:",
          "text": "He needs must goe, the Devil drives.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1623, William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well:",
          "text": "My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on by the flesh; and he must needs go that the devil drives.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1956, Gerald Durrell, “The Talking Flowers”, in My Family and Other Animals, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1959 (1974 printing), →OCLC, page 221:",
          "text": "I doubt we can make it on foot, laden as we are. Dear me! I think we had better have a cab. An extravagance, of course, but needs must where the devil drives, eh?",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "There is sometimes no choice but to do some specific thing."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "short-form"
      ],
      "word": "needs must"
    },
    {
      "word": "necessity knows no law"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "there is sometimes no choice but to do something",
      "word": "hätä ei lue lakia"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "there is sometimes no choice but to do something",
      "word": "was sein muss, muss sein"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "nužda naučit kalači jestʹ",
      "sense": "there is sometimes no choice but to do something",
      "word": "нужда научит калачи есть"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "there is sometimes no choice but to do something",
      "word": "a la fuerza ahorcan"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "there is sometimes no choice but to do something",
      "word": "nöden har ingen lag"
    },
    {
      "alt": "коржі з салом, вареники",
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "sense": "there is sometimes no choice but to do something",
      "word": "біда навчить коржі з маком їсти"
    }
  ],
  "word": "needs must when the devil drives"
}

Download raw JSONL data for needs must when the devil drives meaning in English (2.6kB)

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  "msg": "more than one value in \"alt\": bida (lyxo) navčytʹ korži z makom (korži z salom, varenyky) jisty vs. лихо",
  "path": [
    "needs must when the devil drives"
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  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "proverb",
  "title": "needs must when the devil drives",
  "trace": ""
}

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/2028",
  "msg": "more than one value in \"alt\": лихо vs. коржі з салом, вареники",
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  "section": "English",
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (95d2be1 and 64224ec). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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