device

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially an electronic or mechanical one.

   The device is small enough to wear on your wrist.

2. 2
   noun

   A clever method, trick, or plan, often used to achieve something or to deceive.

   They would use any device to win the argument.

3. 3
   noun

   A technique a writer or speaker uses to create an effect on the audience.

   Repetition is a common device in persuasive speeches.

4. 4
   noun

   A bomb, especially a home-made or improvised one.

   The police safely removed the explosive device.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Device entered Middle English from a French form based on Latin dividere “divide.” Its earliest sense was “desire, intention,” preserved in leave someone to their own devices; it then developed through “plan, scheme, trick” to the modern sense of an object made or adapted for a particular purpose.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *dwi- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁-der. Proto-Italic *wiðō Latin *vidō Latin dīvidō Latin dīvīsus Old French devisbor. Middle English devis English device 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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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary