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device

[dih-vahys]

noun

a thing made for a particular purpose; an invention or contrivance, especially a mechanical or electrical one.

a plan or scheme for effecting a purpose.

a crafty scheme; trick.

a particular word pattern, figure of speech, combination of word sounds, etc., used in a literary work to evoke a desired effect or arouse a desired reaction in the reader: rhetorical devices.

something elaborately or fancifully designed.

EXPAND

a representation or design used as a heraldic charge or as an emblem, badge, trademark, or the like.

a motto.

Archaic. devising; invention.

COLLAPSE

Origin:
1375–1425; blend of late Middle English devis division, discourse and devise heraldic device, will; both < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin dīvīsa, feminine of dīvīsus; see division

Related forms

de·vice·ful, adjective

de·vice·ful·ly, adverb

de·vice·ful·ness, noun

Can be confused: device, devise.

Synonyms
1. gadget. 2. project, design. 3. wile, ruse, artifice, stratagem, maneuver. 7. slogan, legend.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To device

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Device is always a great word to know.

So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

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Example Sentences

The device requires a router, broadband service, a power outlet and a phone.

The program detects the e-reader and automatically downloads new content to the device.

He was the first to import television screens and cameras to communicate with the offstage band, a device now in common use.

EXPAND

The device requires a router, broadband service, a power outlet and a phone.

The program detects the e-reader and automatically downloads new content to the device.

He was the first to import television screens and cameras to communicate with the offstage band, a device now in common use.

Even for creatures as ingenious as ants, it's a device to marvel at.

Researchers say that a specially designed device should be able to draw power from a strong magnetic field permeating a room.

Attached to one end was an electronic device containing a sensor and a transmitter.

Apply close to plant roots with a watering can or an injecting device on a hose every week or two.

Peek, the cheap and simple email-only device is set to get a v20 makeover.

Adkins was the first patient to use the suicide device.

Software developers and device manufacturers are beginning to target e-book products to college users.

The ropes let swimmers cling to the device or climb on top of it until a lifeguard arrives on the scene.

The male giant panda has been fitted with a collar containing a satellite tracking device.

The device is known as a lithium-air or lithium-oxygen battery.

The device picks up the high frequency echolocation calls of nearby bats and runs them through a buffer to make them audible.

Leave it to the military to need rescuing from its own doomsday device.

Advocates say using an everyday device to communicate can ease the stigma and fear of making the adjustment.

No one was at home when the device ignited, charring the door.

After all, these are the brains of every digital device.

The device consisted of a tube attached to a bowl, which was connected to a brace attached to the patient's neck.

New device quells blazes with less risk to firefighters.

They would go up using a mechanical ascender, a device that actually clips onto the rope.

The device had to be precise enough to locate a pin in a haystack, so to speak.

If the device has so much potential, the only way to tap that potential is to actually use it and be comfortable doing so.

Using such a device to look at active biological molecules is difficult, however.

Fuel cells can power almost any portable device or machine that uses batteries.

But for now, the device is meant more for enhancing the human and interactive component of gaming and virtual world habitation.

He runs a cutting device over the top of the molding table and shaves away the extra wax.

The developer of the device in the winning entry says it was used without permission.

The chief attraction of the device is the ease with which it can be used to buy books and other content.

The butterflies are tethered to the recording device with a metal wire.

Makers of blood-testing equipment have taken to charging only if the device actually produces usable data.

Experience shows the device can be worn all day, every day, without discomfort.

Readers respond to an article about the marketing practices in the medical device industry.

Experience shows the device can be worn all day without discomfort.

The tiny device made power from blood sugar while inside a living rat, and the animal suffered no side effects, researchers say.

But they could not have fulfilled is without this unprepossessing device.

When she saw a storage device for nursery pots and other small.

Apple's device is proving both transformative and deeply frustrating.

He's invented a device that visualizes dolphin sounds, but skeptics.

Cruise-ship crews have even used the device to ward off pirates.

The companies and federal authorities have not yet determined what caused the explosion or why a device known as a.

As you can see as the days go by they actually start using this as if the device had been embodied.

Scientists have designed a single-molecule device capable of converting light into mechanical energy, according to a new report.

But a content blockade from major networks could mean the device arrives stillborn.

Each device has a well-understood but specific usage model and capability.

Camara envisions an x-ray device in which the adhesive tape could be peeled by a hand crank-and rolled back up for use again.

Apple's new digital entertainment device will get the music you have on your computer into your car and onto your stereo.

The device has a read-aloud feature that converts text to speech.

Then shake your device to break the picture up into multiple pieces.

The transistor, aka point-contact transistor, is a semiconductor device that can amplify or switch electrical signals.

And second, it's still a bit of a pain to get files on or off the device.

There is no way that a device can evolve if it cannot change its shape or way of doing things.

Explain to students that a space probe is an unpiloted, unmanned device sent to explore space.

In a world in which nearly anyone can purchase a device capable of photographing locations behind walls, gates.

Creating the essence of such a moment through a dramatic device has its place.

The device sends out electrical pulses geared to shock the.

The value of a college degree as a signaling device denoting a high probability of vocational success has declined.

Such a device would dramatically trim the weight and dimensions of whatever it.

But the new implantable wireless device might provide better early warning, research suggests.

The question was how to conceal a device sufficiently powerful to do the job within a piece of solid stonework.

Cyanogen offers custom builds that truly customize a device and provides easy access to hidden features.

Once you have them on the device the wi-fi can be turned off.

Today's wireless device is the sleek mobile phone nestling in.

The device resembles a swimming cap riddled with electrodes, which users wear against their scalp.

The high-tech device enables the patient to communicate his thoughts to a.

Already an incompatible device has emerged: the iPad.

Others represent new inventions by duplicating the functionality of the earlier device in a novel way.

The atomic transistor works, as its name suggests, by shuffling individual atoms around within the device.

But each small device can do only one simple job: detect a certain chemical.

Such gatekeeping depends on being able to keep the energy of the electrons dancing around inside the device at specific levels.

It ordered manufacturers to create labels that say how much standby a device uses.

What he has is a device used for heart surgeries which proves inadequate for the smaller arteries of the leg.

The device then uses that information to figure out where it-and you-are.

The resulting device is robust and reasonably insensitive to heat.

The device is produced by etching micro-channels and wells onto a small square of paper and pre-filling the wells with chemicals.

Such a device might be used to power miniature medical sensors implanted under the skin.

Add audio captions to travel photos and mementos by using this innovative digital recorder and playback device.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

device (dɪˈvaɪs)

—n
1.	a machine or tool used for a specific task; contrivance
2.	euphemistic a bomb
3.	a plan or plot, esp a clever or evil one; scheme; trick
4.	any ornamental pattern or picture, as in embroidery
5.	computer hardware that is designed for a specific function
6.	a written, printed, or painted design or figure, used as a heraldic sign, emblem, trademark, etc
7.	a particular pattern of words, figures of speech, etc, used in literature to produce an effect on the reader
8.	archaic the act or process of planning or devising
9.	leave someone to his own devices to leave someone alone to do as he wishes

[C13: from Old French devis purpose, contrivance and devise difference, intention, from deviser to divide, control; see devise]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

device

late 13c., from O.Fr. devis "division, separation, disposition, wish, desire," from L. divisus, pp. of dividere "to divide" (see divide). Sense of "method by which something is divided" arose in French and led to modern meaning.

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

device de·vice (dĭ-vīs')
n.
A contrivance or an invention serving a particular purpose, especially a machine used to perform one or more relatively simple tasks.

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

device definition

peripheral

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

device

see leave to someone's own devices.

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Matching Quote

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest."

-unknown author

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