The poor devil threw off the cold caught (6)
I believe the answer is:
wretch
'the poor devil' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'threw off the cold caught' is the wordplay.
'off' indicates anagramming the letters.
'the cold' becomes 'c' (eg on taps).
'caught' indicates putting letters inside.
'threw' anagrammed gives 'wreth'.
'wreth' placed around 'c' is 'WRETCH'.
(Other definitions for wretch that I've seen before include "Person in pitiful circumstances" , "Despicable person" , "Good-for-nothing" , "Unhappy person" , "Miserable fellow" .)