device

Noun

device (plural devices)

1. Any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one.
   • Near-synonyms: equipment, tool, machine
   • 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 …

   Synonyms:

   equipment, tool, machine, apparatus, appliance, gadget, design, contrivance

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."
   • His device is against Babylon, to destroy it.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 51:11
   • He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 5:12

   Synonyms:

   scheme, project, stratagem, artifice

4. (Ireland) An improvised explosive device, home-made bomb
   • Inflammable material is planted in my head / It's a suspect device that's left 2000 dead1979, Stiff Little Fingers, Suspect Device
   • THE ARMY BOMB Disposal Team rendered safe a viable device in Cavan this afternoon.2014 September 3, Cliodhna Russell, “A viable device was found in Cavan today, it has now been made safe”, in The Journal
5. (rhetoric) 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.
6. (rhetoric) 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. (archaic) Power of devising; invention; contrivance.
   • Moreover I must have instruments of mine own device, weighty, and exceeding costly1824, Walter Savage Landor, “King Henry IV and Sir Arnold Savage”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, page 44
   • And she said,
     "We are all prisoners here,
     Of our own device"1976, The Eagles, Hotel California

   Synonyms:

   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.
   • 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...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
10. (crosswording) Any specific class of wordplay element in a cryptic crossword.
    • These eight devices, and combinations thereof, account for nearly every kind of wordplay you will encounter in cryptic crosswords.2001 06, Fraser Simpson, 101 Cryptic Crosswords: From the New Yorker, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 6
    • 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.2013 November 7, Alan Connor, Two Girls, One on Each Knee: The Puzzling, Playful World of the Crossword, Penguin UK, →ISBN
11. (obsolete) A spectacle or show.
    • It will be out of faſhion to weare ſwords, / Maſques, and devices welcome, I ſalute you […]c. 1634, James Shirley (falsely attributed to John Fletcher), The Coronation
12. (obsolete) Opinion; decision.