device
Pronunciation: /dɪˈvaɪs/
The English word “device” has 12 meanings listed here.
noun
- Any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one.
- A peripheral device; an item of hardware.
- 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."
- An improvised explosive device, home-made bomb
- A technique that an author or speaker uses to evoke an emotional response in the audience; a rhetorical device.
- 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.
- Power of devising; invention; contrivance.
- An image used in whole or in part as a trademark or service mark.
- An image or logo denoting official or proprietary authority or provenience.
- Any specific class of wordplay element in a cryptic crossword.
- A spectacle or show.
- Opinion; decision.
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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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.