device

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   any clever maneuver

   They would stoop to any device to win a point.

2. 2
   noun

   an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose

   the device is small enough to wear on your wrist

3. 3
   noun

   an emblematic design, especially in heraldry

   The family's shield was easily recognisable by its devices.

4. 4
   noun

   Any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one.

   Near-synonyms: equipment, tool, machine

5. 5
   noun

   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.

6. 6
   noun

   An improvised explosive device, home-made bomb

   Inflammable material is planted in my head / It's a suspect device that's left 2000 dead

7. 7
   noun

   A technique that an author or speaker uses to evoke an emotional response in the audience; a rhetorical device.

   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.

8. 8
   noun

   Power of devising; invention; contrivance.

   Moreover I must have instruments of mine own device, weighty, and exceeding costly

Etymology

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).