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device

Pronunciation: /dɪˈvaɪs/

The English word “device” has 12 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. Any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one.
  2. A peripheral device; an item of hardware.
  3. 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."
  4. An improvised explosive device, home-made bomb
  5. A technique that an author or speaker uses to evoke an emotional response in the audience; a rhetorical device.
  6. 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.
  7. Power of devising; invention; contrivance.
  8. An image used in whole or in part as a trademark or service mark.
  9. An image or logo denoting official or proprietary authority or provenience.
  10. Any specific class of wordplay element in a cryptic crossword.
  11. A spectacle or show.
  12. 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.