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devise

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Devise and devisé

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /dɪˈvaɪz/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪz
  • Hyphenation: de‧vise

Etymology 1

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PIE word
*dwóh₁

From Middle English devisen, devysen, from Old French deviser, from Vulgar Latin devisō, from Latin dīvisō, frequentative of dīvidō.

Verb

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devise (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).
    to devise an argument; to devise a machine, or a new system of writing
    • c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 62, lines 20–23:
      Therefore to make complaynt
      Of such mysadvysed
      Parsons and dysgysed,
      Thys boke we have devysed, […]
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
      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.
    • 1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume (please specify |volume=I to X), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company [et al.], →OCLC:
      devising schemes to realize his ambitious views
    • 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational Grammar, Cambridge: University Press, →ISBN, page 23:
      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.
    • 2019 March 21, Setboonsarg, Chayut, Johnson, Kay, “Numbers game: How Thailand's election system favors pro-army parties”, in Robert Birsel, editor, Reuters‎[1], Reuters, retrieved 2019-03-23:
      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.
  2. (transitive) To leave (property) in a will.
  3. (intransitive, archaic) To form a scheme; to lay a plan; to contrive; to consider.
  4. (transitive, archaic) To plan or scheme for; to plot to obtain.
  5. (obsolete) To imagine; to guess.
    • 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, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
      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.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle French devise.[1] Doublet of device.

Noun

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devise (plural devises)

  1. The act of leaving real property in a will.
  2. Such a will, or a clause in such a will.
    • 1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent, volume (please specify |volume=I to X), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company [et al.], →OCLC:
      Fines upon devises were still exacted.
  3. The real property left in such a will.
  4. Design, devising.
    • 2010, Carl Anderson, Fragments of a Scattered Brain, →ISBN, page 83:
      I don't know how I got to be so sour on life, but I'm constantly in solitary confinement of my own devise, […]
Derived terms
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See also

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References

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  1. ^ “devise, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

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Danish

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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devise c (singular definite devisen, plural indefinite deviser)

  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Declension

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Declension of devise
common
gender 		singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative devise devisen deviser deviserne
genitive devises devisens devisers devisernes

Further reading

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French

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French Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fr

Etymology

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From Old French devise (“division, separation; heraldic band, emblem”), from deviser. The financial sense is a semantic loan from German Devise.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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devise f (plural devises)

  1. (heraldry) motto
    • 1925, Nguyễn Ái Quốc, “XII - Le réveil des esclaves”, in Le procès de la colonisation française; English translation from “XII - Awakening of Slaves”, in French Colonization on Trial (Selected works of Hồ Chí Minh; 1)‎[2], 1st edition, Paris: Foreign Languages Press, 2021, page 337:
      Le colonialisme français n’a pas varié sa devise: «Diviser pour régner.» C’est ainsi que l’empire d’Annam ce pays habité par un peuple descendant de la même race, ayant les mêmes moeurs, la même histoire, les mêmes traditions et parlant la même langue – fut divisé en cinq parties.
      French colonialism hasn’t altered its motto: “Divide and rule.” That is why the empire of Annam — that country inhabited by a people descended from the same race, having the same customs, the same history, the same traditions and speaking the same language — was divided into five parts.
  1. (finance) assets in foreign currency
  2. (finance, by extension) currency

Descendants

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  • → Turkish: döviz

Verb

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devise

  1. inflection of deviser:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Portuguese

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Verb

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devise

  1. inflection of devisar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

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Verb

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devise

  1. inflection of devisar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
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