Etymology PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English devisen, devysen, from Old French deviser, from Vulgar Latin devisō, from Latin dīvisō, frequentative of dīvidō.
1
To use one’s intellect to plan or design (something).
Near-synonyms: lay, set, design, plan, create
to devise an argument; to devise a machine, or a new system of writing
4 more examples
Therefore to make complaynt Of such mysadvysed Parsons 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, →OCLC, 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 (date written), [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:
devising schemes to realize his ambitious views1834–1874, 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:
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, →ISBN, page 23:
2
To leave (property) in a will.
3
Archaic To form a scheme; to lay a plan; to contrive; to consider.
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, →OCLC:
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, →OCLC, stanza 30:
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, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
Etymology From Middle French devise. Doublet of device.
1
The act of leaving real property in a will.
2
Such a will, or a clause in such a will.
Fines upon devises were still exacted.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:
3
The real property left in such a will.
4
Design, devising.
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, →ISBN, page 83: