From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpoor/lucky/handsome etc devilpoor/lucky/handsome etc devilspokenPERSON/PEOPLE used to talk about someone who you feel sorry for, who is lucky etc What on earth is wrong with the poor devil? → devil
Examples from the Corpus
poor/lucky/handsome etc devil• He was a handsome devil, clever and presumably extremely well off.• Eliot has it perhaps worse than I have - poor devil.• This isn't a propitious start for him, poor devil.• And the poor devil can't hide a thing from her.• I know bow the poor devil feels.• What on earth was eating the poor devil?• He loathed the sterile ritual of inspections, and this poor devil in his untimely end had saved him from that.• I was driving past and tried to stop this poor devil getting beaten up. 