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Device
Definitions
- 1 Any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one.
"1949. Geneva Convention on Road Traffic Chapter VI. Provisions Applicable to Cycles in International Traffic Every cycle shall be equipped with: … (b) an audible warning device consisting of a bell …"
- 2 any clever maneuver wordnet
- 3 A peripheral device; an item of hardware.
- 4 an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose wordnet
- 5 A project or scheme, often designed to deceive; a stratagem; an artifice. 1602, Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor. "This is our device,/ That Falstaff at that oak shall meet with us."
"His device is against Babylon, to destroy it."
Show 12 more definitions
- 6 an emblematic design (especially in heraldry) wordnet
- 7 An improvised explosive device, home-made bomb Ireland
"Inflammable material is planted in my head / It's a suspect device that's left 2000 dead"
- 8 any ornamental pattern or design (as in embroidery) wordnet
- 9 A technique that an author or speaker uses to evoke an emotional response in the audience; a rhetorical device. rhetoric
"1736. O'Callaghan, Edmund Bailey. The Documentary History of the State of New York Chapter I, Article III: Enumeration of the Indian Tribes. The devices of these savages are the serpent, the Deer, and the Small Acorn."
- 10 something in an artistic work designed to achieve a particular effect wordnet
- 11 A technique that an author or speaker uses to evoke an emotional response in the audience; a rhetorical device. (heraldry) A motto, emblem, or other mark used to distinguish the bearer from others. A device differs from a badge or cognizance primarily as it is a personal distinction, and not a badge borne by members of the same house successively.; A motto, emblem, or other mark used to distinguish the bearer from others. A device differs from a badge or cognizance primarily as it is a personal distinction, and not a badge borne by members of the same house successively. rhetoric
- 12 Power of devising; invention; contrivance. archaic
"Moreover I must have instruments of mine own device, weighty, and exceeding costly"
- 13 An image used in whole or in part as a trademark or service mark.
- 14 An image or logo denoting official or proprietary authority or provenience.
"Prior to the issuance of the first stamps, letters accepted by postmasters for dispatch were marked "Paid" by means of pen and ink or hand stamps of various designs. … To facilitate the handling of mail matter, some postmasters provided special stamps or devices for use on letters as evidence of the prepayment of postage."
- 15 Any specific class of wordplay element in a cryptic crossword.
"These eight devices, and combinations thereof, account for nearly every kind of wordplay you will encounter in cryptic crosswords."
- 16 A spectacle or show. obsolete
"It will be out of faſhion to weare ſwords, / Maſques, and devices welcome, I ſalute you […]"
- 17 Opinion; decision. obsolete
Etymology
From Middle English devis, devise, devyce, devys, devyse, from Old French devis and devise, from Latin dīvīsus, past participle of dīvidō (“to divide”). Doublet of devise (noun).
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