# devise

Pronunciation: say "di-VYZ" /dɪˈvaɪz/

## Verb

1. To work out a plan or design for something through careful thought.
   - Simple: To think carefully and come up with a plan or way to do something.
   - _Engineers devised a cheaper way to filter the village's drinking water._
   - _The coaching staff will devise a new strategy before the playoffs begin._
2. To leave property to someone in a will.
   - Simple: To give your house or land to someone in your will.
   - _She devised the orchard to the local library in her final will._
   - _Owners can devise their land to anyone they choose, family or not._

## Noun

3. The act of leaving real property to someone in a will.
   - Simple: The act of giving land or a house to someone through a will.
   - _The devise of the lake house to charity surprised the whole family._
   - _Title passed by devise once the will was admitted to probate._
4. A will, or a clause in a will, that leaves real property to someone.
   - Simple: A will, or a part of a will, that gives land or a house to someone.
   - _The devise leaving the cottage to her niece was added two years before her death._
   - _Lawyers found two conflicting devises in the old will and prepared for litigation._
5. The real property left to a beneficiary in a will.
   - Simple: The land or house that someone gets through a will.
   - _The devise included the family home and the orchard behind it._
   - _He sold the devise within a year of his uncle's death._
6. The planning or inventing of something, or the design that comes out of it.
   - Simple: The planning of something, or the design that results from it.
   - _The puzzle box was entirely of her own devise, down to the hidden latch._
   - _The masque's costumes were all of the duchess's own devise._

## Verb

7. To lay plans or scheme, or more generally to deliberate or think a matter over. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To spend time thinking carefully and making plans.
   - _She devised with her counselors long into the night._
   - _Sit with me a while, and we shall devise upon the matter._
8. To plan or scheme for something; to plot to obtain it. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To make secret plans to get something, often in an unfair way.
   - _His stepbrothers devised the whole inheritance for themselves while he was abroad._
   - _Greedy courtiers devise the favor of princes through flattery and whispers._
9. To imagine something, or to guess at it. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To guess something, or to picture it in your mind.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 7–9** — It comes from Middle English devisen, from Old French deviser, which derives from Vulgar Latin devisō, a form of Latin dīvidō (to divide).
**Meanings 3–6** — It comes from Middle French devise and is a doublet of 'device'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/devise (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).