Definition of "devise"

devise

/dɪˈvaɪz/

verb
third-person singular simple present devises, present participle devising, simple past and past participle devised
1. (transitive) To use one’s intellect to plan or design (something).
  Quotations
  Therefore to make complayntOf such mysadvysedParsons and dysgysed,Thys boke we have devysed, […]
  c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, page 62, lines 20–23
  His fiery eies are fixt vpon the earth.As if he now deuiſ’d some Stratageme:Or meant to pierce Auernus darkſome vauts.To pull the triple headed dog from hell.
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, (please specify the page)
  devising schemes to realize his ambitious views
  1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent
  Thus, the task of the linguist devising a grammar which models the linguistic competence of the fluent native speaker is to devise a finite set of rules which are capable of specifying how to form, interpret, and pronounce an infinite set of well-formed sentences.
  1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational Grammar, Cambridge: University Press, page 23
  Thailand goes to the polls on Sunday under a new system that critics say the military government has devised to prevent the most popular political party, which has won every election since 2001, from returning to power.
  2019 March 21, Setboonsarg, Chayut, Johnson, Kay, “Numbers game: How Thailand's election system favors pro-army parties”, in Robert Birsel, editor, Reuters‎, Reuters, retrieved 2019-03-23
2. (transitive) To leave (property) in a will.
3. (intransitive, archaic) To form a scheme; to lay a plan; to contrive; to consider.
  Quotations
  I thought, devised, and Pallas heard my prayer.
  1725, Homer, “Book IX”, in [William Broome], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume II, London: […] Bernard Lintot
4. (transitive, archaic) To plan or scheme for; to plot to obtain.
  Quotations
  For wisedome is most riches; fooles therefore / They are, which fortunes doe by vowes deuize,
  1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, stanza 30
5. (obsolete) To imagine; to guess.
  Quotations
  I do protest I neuer iniur’d thee, But lou’d thee better then thou can’st deuise: Till thou shalt know the reason of my loue.
  c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene i]
noun
plural devises
1. The act of leaving real property in a will.
2. Such a will, or a clause in such a will.
  Quotations
  Fines upon devises were still exacted.
  1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent
3. The real property left in such a will.
4. Design, devising.
  Quotations
  I don't know how I got to be so sour on life, but I'm constantly in solitary confinement of my own devise, […]
  2010, Carl Anderson, Fragments of a Scattered Brain, page 83

Definition of "devise"

devise

verb

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noun

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