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Imp vs Fiend - What's the difference?

imp | fiend |

As an initialism imp

is inosine monophosphate.

As a noun fiend is

(obsolete) an enemy, unfriend, or foe.

imp

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (obsolete) A young shoot of a plant, tree etc.
  • * Sir Orfeo , 69:
    • Þai sett hem doun al þre / Vnder a fair ympe-tre.
  • (obsolete) A scion, offspring; a child.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene I.3:
    • And thou most dreaded impe of highest Ioue'', / Faire ''Venus sonne, [...] come to mine ayde [...].
  • * Fairfax
    • The tender imp was weaned.
  • A young or inferior devil; a malevolent supernatural creature, similar to a demon but smaller and less powerful.
  • * Beattie
    • to mingle in the clamorous fray of squabbling imps
  • A mischievous child.
  • * 1908 ,
    • I've left my young children to look after themselves, and a more mischievous and troublesome set of young imps doesn't exist...
  • (UK, dialect, obsolete) Something added to, or united with, another, to lengthen it out or repair it, such as an addition to a beehive; a feather inserted in a broken wing of a bird; or a length of twisted hair in a fishing line.

    • Synonyms

    * (mischievous child) brat, urchin, little dickens

    Derived terms

    * impish * implike

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To plant or engraft.
  • (archaic) To graft, implant; to set or fix.
  • *1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , IV.9:
  • *:That headlesse tyrants tronke he reard from ground, / And, having ympt the head to it agayne, / Upon his usuall beast it firmely bound, / And made it so to ride as it alive was found.
  • (falconry) To engraft feathers into a bird's wing.
    • "For, if I imp my wing on Thine" – Herbert (1633)
  • To eke out, strengthen, enlarge.

    • Anagrams

    * (l) * (l) * (l)

    fiend

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) An enemy, unfriend, or foe.
  • (religious, archaic) The enemy of mankind, specifically, the Devil; Satan.
  • * 1971 , , Religion and the Decline of Magic , Folio Society 2012, p. 35:
    • At the confirmation ceremony the bishop would lay his hands on the child and tie around its forehead a linen band […]. This was believed to strengthen him against the assaults of the fiend […].
  • A devil or demon; a malignant or diabolical being; an evil spirit.
  • * 1845 , E.A. Poe, "The Raven"
    • "Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend! "
  • A very evil person
  • (informal) An addict or fanatic
    • a jazz fiend

    Derived terms

    * fienddom/fiendom * fiendful * fiendhood * fiendish * fiendkin * fiendlike * fiendling * fiendly * fiendness * fiendship * dope fiend

    Synonyms

    * monster

    Anagrams

    * * *