device
/dɪˈvaɪs/ noun
Forms devices
- noun Any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one.
- noun (computer hardware) A peripheral device; an item of hardware.
- 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."
- noun (Ireland) An improvised explosive device, home-made bomb
- noun (rhetoric) A technique that an author or speaker uses to evoke an emotional response in the audience; a rhetorical device.
- noun (archaic) Power of devising; invention; contrivance.
- noun (law) An image used in whole or in part as a trademark or service mark.
Synonyms
equipment tool machine apparatus appliance gadget design contrivance scheme project stratagem artifice invention gimmick twist
Antonyms
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).
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.
- noun Power of devising; invention; contrivance.
Etymology [OE. devis, devise, will, intention, opinion, invention, fr. F. devis architect's plan and estimates (in OF., division, plan, wish), devise device (in sense 3), in OF. also, division, wish, last will, fr. deviser. See Devise, v. t., and cf. Devise, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “device”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details