1. devise - Noun
2. devise - Verb
To form in the mind by new combinations of ideas, new applications of principles, or new arrangement of parts; to formulate by thought; to contrive; to excogitate; to invent; to plan; to scheme; as, to devise an engine, a new mode of writing, a plan of defense, or an argument.
To plan or scheme for; to purpose to obtain.
To say; to relate; to describe.
To imagine; to guess.
To give by will; -- used of real estate; formerly, also, of chattels.
To form a scheme; to lay a plan; to contrive; to consider.
The act of giving or disposing of real estate by will; -- sometimes improperly applied to a bequest of personal estate.
A will or testament, conveying real estate; the clause of a will making a gift of real property.
Property devised, or given by will.
Device. See Device.
Source: Webster's dictionaryHuman subtlety...will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does nature, because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous. Leonardo da Vinci
I hate government. I hate power. I think that man's existence, insofar as he achieves anything, is to resist power, to minimize power, to devise systems of society in which power is the least exerted. Malcolm Muggeridge
In each human heart terror survives The ravin it has gorged: the loftiest fear All that they would disdain to think were true: Hypocrisy and custom make their minds The fanes of many a worship, now outworn. They dare not devise good for man's estate, And yet they know not that they do not dare. Percy Bysshe Shelley
It is impossible to devise a scientific experiment to describe the creation process, or even to ascertain whether such a process can take place. The Creator does not create at the whim of a scientist. Henry M. Morris
Mankind has failed miserably in its effort to devise a rational system of government. [...] The art of government is the exclusive possession of quacks and frauds. It has been so since the earliest days, and it will probably remain so until the end of time. H. L. Mencken
But when you're deprived of it for a lengthy period then you value human companionship. But you have to survive and so you devise all kinds of mental exercises and it's amazing. Wole Soyinka