Meaning
1. That which is formed by design, or invented; scheme; artificial contrivance; stratagem; project; sometimes in a good sense; more generally in a bad sense, as artifices are usually employed for bad purposes.
In a good sense:
His device is against Babylon, to destroy it. Jer 51.
In a bad sense:
He disappointeth the devices of the crafty. Job 5.
They imagined a mischievous device. Psa 212.
2. An emblem intended to represent a family, person, action or quality, with a suitable motto; used in painting, sculpture and heraldry. It consists in a metaphorical similitude between the things representing and represented, as the figure of a plow representing agriculture.
Knights-errant used to distinguish themselves by devices on their shields.
3. Invention; genius; faculty of devising; as a man of noble device.
4. A spectacle or show.
