Noun

(en noun)

The process of constructing.

Construction is underway on the new bridge.

Anything that has been constructed.

The engineer marvelled at his construction .

The trade of building structures.

He had worked in construction all his life.

A building, model or some other structure.

The office was a construction of steel and glass.

(arts) A (usually non-representational) structure, such as a collage etc.

"Construction in string and clockwork" took first prize.

The manner in which something is built.

A thing of simple construction .

* {{quote-book, year=1913, author=

, title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad , chapter=4 citation , passage=Nothing could be more business-like than the construction of the stout dams, and nothing more gently rural than the limpid lakes, with the grand old forest trees marshalled round their margins like a veteran army that had marched down to drink, only to be stricken motionless at the water’s edge.}}

(grammar) A group of words arranged to form a meaningful phrase.

The act or result of construing the meaning of something.

American conservatives tend to favor strict construction of the Constitution.

The meaning or interpretation of a text, action etc.; the way something is viewed by an observer or onlooker.

* 1992 , Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety , Harper Perennial 2007, p. 95:

He had considered sending Lucille away to stay with relations. But then people might have put the worst construction on it – might believe she had done something she shouldn't have.

(geometry) A geometric figure of arcs and line segments that is drawable with a straightedge and compass.

Noun

(en noun)

Any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one.

* 1949 . Geneva Convention on Road Traffic

Every cycle shall be equipped with: [...] (b) an audible warning device consisting of a bell [...]

* {{quote-magazine, title=A better waterworks, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838

, page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.}}

A project or scheme, often designed to deceive; a stratagem; an artifice.

*

His device is against Babylon, to destroy it.

*

He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.

* 1827 Hallam, Henry, , Harper

Their recent device of demanding benevolences.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=

, title=Pixels or Perish, volume=100, issue=2, page=106 , magazine= citation , passage=Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.}}

(rhetoric) A technique that an author or speaker uses to evoke an emotional response in the audience; a rhetorical device .

(senseid)(heraldry) A motto, emblem, or other mark used to distinguish the bearer from others. A device differs from a badge or cognizance primarily because as it is a personal distinction, and not a badge borne by members of the same house successively.

* 1736 . O'Callaghan, Edmund Bailey. The Documentary History of the State of New York .

The devices of these savages are the serpent, the Deer, and the Small Acorn.

(archaic) Power of devising; invention; contrivance.

* 1824 . Landor, Walter Savage "King Henry IV and Sir Arnold Savage" from Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen , page 44

Moreover I must have instruments of mine own device , weighty, and exceeding costly

* 1976 . The Eagles, "Hotel California"

And she said,

"We are all prisoners here,

Of our own device "

(legal) An image used in whole or in part as a trademark or service mark.

(printing) An image or logo denoting official or proprietary authority or provenience.

* 1943 United States Post Office Department. A Description of United States Postage Stamps / Issued by the Post Office Department from July 1, 1847, to April 1, 1945 [sic] , USGPO, Washington, p1:

Prior to the issuance of the first stamps, letters accepted by postmasters for dispatch were marked "Paid" by means of pen and ink or hand stamps of various designs. [...] To facilitate the handling of mail matter, some postmasters provided special stamps or devices for use on letters as evidence of the prepayment of postage.

(obsolete) A spectacle or show.

(Beaumont and Fletcher)

(obsolete) Opinion; decision.