device

Everyday

1. A device is a machine or tool made for a special job, like a phone, a tablet or a can opener. tree →
2. A device is a clever way or trick used to get a result, like a plan or a technique in writing. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life «devices» often means phones, tablets and computers: «Put your devices away at dinner.» In online safety lessons you learn to keep devices locked with passwords and to tell an adult about worrying messages. In science and design technology, a device is something built to do a task. In English lessons a «literary device» is a writing trick like a simile. Phrases: «electronic device», «safety device», «mobile device», «leave someone to their own devices» (let them do what they like).

Examples

• Please turn off all devices during the test. tree →
• A smoke alarm is a safety device. tree →
• He invented a device to water plants automatically. tree →
• My tablet is my favourite device. tree →
• Keep your device locked with a passcode. tree →
• Rhyme is a device poets use. tree →
• The teacher left us to our own devices for ten minutes. tree →
• A thermometer is a device for measuring temperature. tree →
• The Cat was no longer able to get at them and perceived that she must tempt them forth by some device. tree →

Note

Countable: devices. Trap: «device» (noun, a thing, says -vice like «ice») vs «devise» (verb, to plan or invent, says -vise like «eyes»): «She devised a clever device.»

In Jewish tradition

In the Psalms and Proverbs, a device is a plan or scheme, often an evil or crafty one, that the wicked make against others. Sefer Yetzirah's translators also use the word for a formative power or tool.

Interpretation. The tradition reads these verses as saying that wicked plans will not succeed and that the faithless are caught in their own traps.

Examples

• Rittangelius gives "replace the formative power upon his throne." Postellus gives "restore the device to its place." (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893) tree →
• For they intended evil against thee, they imagined a device, wherewith they shall not prevail. (Writings PSA.21.12, JPS 1917) tree →
• Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; further not his evil device, so that they exalt themselves. (Writings PSA.140.9, JPS 1917) tree →
• The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them; but the faithless shall be trapped in their own crafty device. (Writings PRO.11.6, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Countable: devices. Trap: «device» (noun, a thing, says -vice like «ice») vs «devise» (verb, to plan or invent, says -vise like «eyes»): «She devised a clever device.»