Fiend (?), n. [OE. fend, find, fiend, feond, fiend, foe, AS. feond; akin to OS. fiond, D. vijand enemy, OHG. fiant, G. feind, Icel. fjand, Sw. & Dan. fiende, Goth. fijands; orig. p.pr. of a verb meaning to hate, AS. feon, feogan, OHG. fin, Goth. fijan, Skr. piy to scorn; prob. akin to E. feud a quarrel. 81. Cf. Foe, Friend.]
An implacable or malicious foe; one who is diabolically wicked or cruel; an infernal being; -- applied specifically to the devil or a demon.
Into this wild abyss the wary fiend
Stood on the brink of Hell and looked a while.
Milton.
O woman! woman! when to ill thy mind
Is bent, all hell contains no fouler fiend.
Pope.
© Webster 1913.