Device

Device - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

DEVICE, n. [L.]

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.