Definition of "devise" []

• To form, plan, or arrange in the mind; design or contrive: devised a new system for handling mail orders. (verb-transitive)
• Law To transmit or give (real property) by will. (verb-transitive)
• Archaic To suppose; imagine. (verb-transitive)
• The act of transmitting or giving real property by will. (noun)
• The property or lands so transmitted or given. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "This devise is a little far fetched but allows the narrator to continue his long life of crime and McCabe to produce an unforgettable black work."
• "A gradation: "devise" is the conception of the evil purpose; "work" (Ps 58: 2), or "fabricate," the maturing of the scheme;"
• "Some valid discoveries have been made, so it is probably better grounded than String Theory, which is still stuck in "devise some explanation to explain the data" mode."