What it means
Scouse for devastated, usually clipped down from devo'd. It's what you say when something's gone properly wrong and you're gutted about it, whether it's life-ruining stuff or a tiny tragedy you're milking for full effect. In Liverpool it carries that classic dramatic sparkle, so even a missing gravy can have you sounding emotionally flattened.
Usage examples
"Found out the gig was sold out after I'd already got me outfit sorted and everything, I was devoed lad, proper gutted."
"I was absolutely devoed when they cancelled the gig the night before, had the tickets and everything."
"She's devoed her favourite café shut down, used to go every single morning."
"They'd stopped serving salt and pepper chips by the time we got there, I'm devoed me, that's ruined the night."
"Our kid texted saying the match tickets were fake and I was proper devoed for about an hour."
Where it comes from
It comes from devastated, chopped down in spoken Scouse to devo'd or devoed. That kind of shortening is dead common in fast, everyday British speech, and Liverpool really took this one and gave it extra drama. Same heartbreak, fewer syllables, bigger performance.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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