device
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɪˈvaɪs/
ipa: /dəˈvaɪs/
rhymes: -aɪs
Forms: form: devices
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).
Senses: examples: text: 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 …
text: An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.
ref: 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):
glosses: Any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one.
topics: computer-hardware
computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A peripheral device; an item of hardware.
examples: text: His device is against Babylon, to destroy it.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 51:11:
text: He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 5:12:
text: Their recent device of demanding benevolences.
ref: 1827, Henry Hallam, The English Constitution, Harper:
text: So next day the hunting began. I did not know how to shoot, but I proceeded to learn. And when I had expended some thirty shells for three seals, I decided that the ammunition would be exhausted before I acquired the necessary knowledge. I had used eight shells for lighting fires before I hit upon the device of banking the embers with wet moss, and there remained not over a hundred shells in the box.
ref: 1904, Jack London, chapter 30, in The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC:
text: FOR a month Tarzan was a regular and very welcome devotee at the shrine of the beautiful Countess de Coude. […] More often Olga found devices that would give her an hour of Tarzan alone.
ref: 1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Plot That Failed”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 58:
text: Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.
ref: 2012 March 23, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2013, page 106:
glosses: 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."
examples: text: Inflammable material is planted in my head / It's a suspect device that's left 2000 dead
ref: 1979, Stiff Little Fingers, Suspect Device:
text: THE ARMY BOMB Disposal Team rendered safe a viable device in Cavan this afternoon.
ref: 2014 September 3, Cliodhna Russell, “A viable device was found in Cavan today, it has now been made safe”, in The Journal:
text: The army bomb squad carried out two controlled explosions on the device. It was later found that the suspect device was a hoax and not a viable explosive.
ref: 2014 August 3, Louise Kelly, Conor Feehan, “Suspect device found at shopping centre revealed as hoax”, in Irish Independent:
glosses: An improvised explosive device, home-made bomb
examples: 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.
glosses: A technique that an author or speaker uses to evoke an emotional response in the audience; a rhetorical device.
glosses: 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.
topics: government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
examples: text: Moreover I must have instruments of mine own device, weighty, and exceeding costly
ref: 1824, Walter Savage Landor, “King Henry IV and Sir Arnold Savage”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, page 44:
text: And she said,
"We are all prisoners here,
Of our own device"
ref: 1976, The Eagles, Hotel California:
text: I want to (I must) tell a story of a revelation in my life. His name is Vernon. We have known each other for 17 years, yet we are presently separated through no device of our own making.
ref: 1986 February 1, James E. Lewis, “Love In The Worst Of Times”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 28, page 5:
glosses: Power of devising; invention; contrivance.
topics: law
glosses: An image used in whole or in part as a trademark or service mark.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1943 United States Post Office Department. A Description of United States Postage Stamps / Issued by the Post Office Department from July 1, 1847, to April 1, 1945 [sic], USGPO, Washington, p1
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: An image or logo denoting official or proprietary authority or provenience.
examples: text: These eight devices, and combinations thereof, account for nearly every kind of wordplay you will encounter in cryptic crosswords.
ref: 2001 06, Fraser Simpson, 101 Cryptic Crosswords: From the New Yorker, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 6:
text: Discovering these variants is much of the fun. All the devices can be combined and twisted to produce surface readings in each clue which point you in the wrong direction.
ref: 2013 November 7, Alan Connor, Two Girls, One on Each Knee: The Puzzling, Playful World of the Crossword, Penguin UK, →ISBN:
text: As with all varieties of cryptic clues, the container device can be used in conjunction with other devices, especially in more complex cryptic crosswords.
ref: 2020 March 30, Denise Sutherland, Solving Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 48:
qualifier: crosswording
glosses: Any specific class of wordplay element in a cryptic crossword.
examples: text: It will be out of faſhion to weare ſwords, / Maſques, and devices welcome, I ſalute you […]
ref: c. 1634, James Shirley (falsely attributed to John Fletcher), The Coronation:
glosses: A spectacle or show.
glosses: Opinion; decision.
Synonyms: sense: piece of equipment
word: apparatus
sense: piece of equipment
word: appliance
sense: piece of equipment
word: equipment
sense: piece of equipment
word: gadget
sense: piece of equipment
word: design
sense: piece of equipment
word: contrivance
sense: project or scheme
word: scheme
sense: project or scheme
word: project
sense: project or scheme
word: stratagem
sense: project or scheme
word: artifice
sense: power of devising
word: invention
sense: power of devising
word: contrivance
word: device
Hypernyms: word: artifact
Hyponyms: word: belay device
word: biodevice
word: block device
word: e-book device
word: end-of-train device
word: framing device
word: intrauterine contraceptive device
word: intrauterine device
word: literary device
word: Pedersen device
word: peripheral device
word: plant floor device
word: radiological dispersal device
word: spring-loaded camming device
word: time-on-device
word: unibody device
word: vehicle
word: machine
word: radio
word: stereo
word: television set
word: phone
word: cell phone
word: computer
word: monitor
word: calculator
word: printer
word: plotter
word: scanner
word: microphone
word: speaker
word: camera
word: touchpad
word: trackball
word: trackpad
word: mouse
word: furnace
word: compressor
word: coupler
word: burner
word: filter
word: shower
word: bomb
word: detonator
word: sequencer
word: antenna
word: laser
word: regulator
word: ventilator
word: parachute
word: wheel
word: measuring device
Derived terms: aerial device
ambient device
Brannock device
charge-coupled device
cloaking device
cohesive device
cryodevice
device driver
device file
deviceful
deviceless
device under test
doomsday device
Duff's device
e-device
erasable programmable logic device
Handford device
high-lift device
human interface device
iDevice
infernal device
input device
interdevice
intradevice
Jensen's device
listening device
macrodevice
metadevice
microdevice
mobile device
multidevice
nanodevice
nano-device
nondevice
null device
output device
overcurrent protective device
personal flotation device
personal mobility device
photodevice
plot device
pneumatic device
pneumonic device
point-device
pointing device
pseudodevice
reply device
residual-current device
solid-state device
storage device
subdevice
time on device
transferred electron device
turtle excluder device
Valsalva device
Related terms: word: tool
word: instrument