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Device   /dɪvˈaɪs/   Listen
noun
Device  n.  
1.
That which is devised, or formed by design; a contrivance; an invention; a project; a scheme; often, a scheme to deceive; a stratagem; an artifice. "His device in against Babylon, to destroy it." "Their recent device of demanding benevolences." "He disappointeth the devices of the crafty."
2.
Power of devising; invention; contrivance. "I must have instruments of my own device."
3.
(a)
An emblematic design, generally consisting of one or more figures with a motto, used apart from heraldic bearings to denote the historical situation, the ambition, or the desire of the person adopting it. See Cognizance.
(b)
Improperly, an heraldic bearing. "Knights-errant used to distinguish themselves by devices on their shields." "A banner with this strange device - Excelsior."
4.
Anything fancifully conceived.
5.
A spectacle or show. (Obs.)
6.
Opinion; decision. (Obs.)
7.
Any artifactual object designed to perform an action or process, with or without an operator in attendance.
Synonyms: Contrivance; invention; design; scheme; project; stratagem; shift. Device, Contrivance. Device implies more of inventive power, and contrivance more of skill and dexterity in execution. A device usually has reference to something worked out for exhibition or show; a contrivance usually respects the arrangement or disposition of things with reference to securing some end. Devices were worn by knights-errant on their shields; contrivances are generally used to promote the practical convenience of life. The word device is often used in a bad sense; as, a crafty device; contrivance is almost always used in a good sense; as, a useful contrivance.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Device" Quotes from Famous Books



... always moved slowly; and this, to begin with, irritated the squire. Then an uncomfortable consciousness of a rough black coat, drab trowsers, checked cotton cravat, and splashed boots, forced itself upon him as he saw Osborne's point-device costume. He chose to consider it affectation and finery in Osborne, and was on the point of bursting out with some remark, when the butler, who had watched Osborne downstairs before making the announcement, came in to say that ...
— Wives and Daughters • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

... said loudly and with ill-concealed exasperation, "you created and set off an explosive force that dwarfed every test we've made at Frenchman's Flat in four years. The force of your explosive was apparently greater than that of a fair-sized atomic device and only our Pacific tests—and those of the Russians—have been any greater. Yet within a half hour or forty-five minutes after the blast there wasn't a trace of radiation at ground level, no aerial radiation and not one report of upper atmosphere contamination ...
— Make Mine Homogenized • Rick Raphael

... be judged from a man sheathed in armor, the new adventurer did not greatly exceed the middle size and seemed to be rather slender than strongly made. 30 His suit of armor was formed of steel, richly inlaid with gold, and the device on his shield was a young oak tree pulled up by the roots with the Spanish word Desdichado, signifying "disinherited". He was mounted on a gallant black horse, and as he passed through the lists he gracefully saluted the prince and the ...
— Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year • E.C. Hartwell

... appetizing, nourishing, a stimulant to the hunger which it appeases, 'tis the matured bloom and consummation of the mild little pig, spared by foresight for a nobler fate than juvenile roasting, and brought by art and man's device to a perfection surpassing nature. All the problems of woodland cookery are best saved by the baconian method. And when we say of one escaping great disaster that he has "saved his bacon," we say that the physical ...
— Days Off - And Other Digressions • Henry Van Dyke

... ordained a fast at Marblehead, and preached a soul-stirring discourse on the words; "Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye did it not unto me." But it has been borne in upon me at times, whether the whole vision of the pirates and the cry of the woman was not a device of Satan's to sift the Marblehead folk, and see what fruit their doctrine bore, and so to condemn them in the sight of the Lord. If it were so, the enemy had a great triumph, for assuredly it was no part of Christian men to leave a helpless woman ...
— Curious, if True - Strange Tales • Elizabeth Gaskell


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