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.

Noun

(informal, US) A device of dubious accuracy used to measure the volume of an audience’s applause.

* 1989 , Nov.–Dec., , volume 78, ? 2, page 24

Its four-color animation board has message capabilities, angled lenses for easy daytime viewing, and an applauseometer , which measures the crowd’s Longhorn-cheering levels.

* 2000 : Marshal Scott Younger, The Great Kidsboro Takeover , page 93 (Review and Herald Publishing Association; ISBN 0828014272, 9780828014274)

Again, there was scattered applause. I looked into the crowd at Nelson. He told me he was bringing a new invention — an applauseometer — to the debate.

* 2001 : Stanley Marcus, Quest for the Best , page 27] ([http://web3.unt.edu/untpress/catalog/detail.cfm?ID=227 University of North Texas Press; ISBN 1574411373, 9781574411379)

Is the best measurable? If so, by what kind of instrumentation? Certainly not by an “applauseometer ,” as used to record the volume of applause on the “Major Bowes Amateur Night Talent” shows during the heyday of radio. I know of no universal empirical devices, but I do believe that the best is discernible to the observant eye.