Device vs Twain - What's the difference?
device | twain |
Any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one.
* 1949 . Geneva Convention on Road Traffic
* {{quote-magazine, title=A better waterworks, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
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A project or scheme, often designed to deceive; a stratagem; an artifice.
*
*
* 1827 Hallam, Henry, , Harper
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=
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(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 .
(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
* 1976 . The Eagles, "Hotel California"
(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:
(obsolete) A spectacle or show.
(obsolete) Opinion; decision.
(dated) two
* 1866 , , Before Parting , lines 1-2
* 1889 , , line 1
* 1900 , , Amor Profanus , lines 26-28
As a noun device
is any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one.As a proper noun twain is
.device
English
Noun
(en noun)- Every cycle shall be equipped with: [...] (b) an audible warning device consisting of a bell [...]
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.}}
- His device is against Babylon, to destroy it.
- He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
- Their recent device of demanding benevolences.
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.}}
- The devices of these savages are the serpent, the Deer, and the Small Acorn.
- Moreover I must have instruments of mine own device , weighty, and exceeding costly
- And she said,
- "We are all prisoners here,
- Of our own device "
- 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.
- (Beaumont and Fletcher)
Synonyms
* (piece of equipment) apparatus, appliance, equipment, gadget, design, contrivance * (project or scheme) scheme, project, stratagem, artifice * invention, contrivanceDerived terms
* biodevice * device driver * electronic device * framing device * intrauterine device * literary device * nondevice * peripheral devicetwain
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) tweyne, tweien, twaine, from (etyl) . The word outlasted the breakdown of gender in Middle English and survived as a secondary form of (two), then especially in the cases where the numeral follows a noun. Its continuation into modern times was aided by its use in KJV, the Marriage Service, in poetry (where it's commonly used as a rhyme word), and in oral use where it is necessary to be clear that two and not "to" or "too" is meant. It could look like one of the many English words inherited from Old Norse. The modern Danish word is "tvende" (pronounced tvenne), it means both, two of a kind, etc.Numeral
(head)- But the warm twilight round us twain will never rise again.
- Bring me these twain cups of wine and water, and let us drink from the one we feel more befitting of this day.
- A month or twain to live on honeycomb
- Is pleasant;
- Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.
- […] all too soon we twain shall tread
- The bitter pastures of the dead:
- Estranged, sad spectres of the night.
