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Devise   Listen
verb
Devise  v. t.  (past & past part. devised; pres. part. devising)  
1.
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 devise curious works." "Devising schemes to realize his ambitious views."
2.
To plan or scheme for; to purpose to obtain. "For wisdom is most riches; fools therefore They are which fortunes do by vows devise."
3.
To say; to relate; to describe. (Obs.)
4.
To imagine; to guess. (Obs.)
5.
(Law) To give by will; used of real estate; formerly, also, of chattels.
Synonyms: To bequeath; invent; discover; contrive; excogitate; imagine; plan; scheme. See Bequeath.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Devise" Quotes from Famous Books



... more. It would be something to see Julius. Perhaps he could devise some plan for finding out what had become of Tommy. She wrote her note to Mr. Carter in Julius's sitting-room, and was just addressing the envelope ...
— The Secret Adversary • Agatha Christie

... looking up absent children, we found that they were away because of dirty clothes, or because the one good suit was being washed, or because shoes were worn out. Frequently we furnished them with shoes or clothes, trying to devise some way by which they could work for them, earn them. This education in neatness and self-respect was not book education, but it was more valuable than ...
— The American Missionary — Volume 54, No. 4, October, 1900 • Various

... for the usual padding of humbug, sycophancy and second-hand ideas, he bethought himself of philology, and he set himself to spring fragments of philological instruction (often far from sound) upon his reader in the most unexpected places, that his ingenuity could devise. He then began to base hopes upon the book in proportion to its originality. At the last moment, however, the Author grew querulous about his work, distrustful of the reception that would be given to it, and even as to ...
— Isopel Berners - The History of certain doings in a Staffordshire Dingle, July, 1825 • George Borrow

... To bring their measures into play, For none so loyal were as they; And none such patriots to support As well the country as the court. No sooner were those Dons admitted, But (all those wondrous virtues quitted) They all the speediest means devise To raise themselves and families. Another party well observing These pampered were, while they were starving, Their ministry brought in disgrace, Expelled them and supplied their place; These on just principles were known The ...
— The Talking Beasts • Various

... the instant he is accused by the Convention of atheism and immorality,* a militant police is sent forth to devastate the churches, and punish those who are detected in observing the Sabbath—"mais plutot souffrir que mourir, c'est la devise des Francois." ["To suffer rather than die is ...
— A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, • An English Lady

... thing about it is that he bequeathed certain property to you as 'my son, Kenneth Gwynne,'—while he fails to mention his daughter Viola at all, except to say that he bequeaths so-and-so to 'Rachel Gwyn, to give, bequeath and devise as she sees fit.' Of course, Viola, by law, is entitled to a share of the estate and it should have been so designated. Judge Wylie says she can contest the will if she so desires, on the ground that she is entitled to as much as you, Mr. Gwynne. ...
— Viola Gwyn • George Barr McCutcheon

... lay the two halves of your brain evenly together and devise a train and an interview for me. Of course you will meet me at the train and leave me at the interview. These are the fundamental rules of my game. I know that you are clever and before we have left the station you will know that I am. As arch-conspirators ...
— The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary • Anne Warner

... through Friday, resolved that at six o'clock, if nothing happened, I should make some sort of effort. But from six I remained, with eyes strained towards the doorway, until ten. I was so utterly at a loss, my ingenuity was so entirely baffled by the situation, that I could devise no course of action which did not immediately appear absurd. But at midnight I sprang up—no longer would I endure the carking suspense. I seized a taper, and passed through the door-way. I had not proceeded far, however, when my light was extinguished. ...
— Prince Zaleski • M.P. Shiel

... eager for education, and who can not get it. Some of them would feel rich if they had the leavings of knowledge which we throw to the floor and tread upon in our spirit of surfeit. To take our education at their hands and use it to devise ways by which we can continue to live on them, seems disquieting even to a pagan conscience. It ought to be insufferable to a sense of social ...
— The Social Principles of Jesus • Walter Rauschenbusch

... Alec's hunger as any mother over her child's. She felt it pure injustice that he should ever be hungry. But, unable to devise any help, she ...
— Alec Forbes of Howglen • George MacDonald

... Major faced their problem coolly, sought a way out. For a while his mind raced with plans, but each died in the minute of inception. He could not influence winds, or induce wild birds to sing in given quarters of the compass, or devise earthquakes. He fell ...
— Terry - A Tale of the Hill People • Charles Goff Thomson

... an assumed name. But there are two lodestones that will draw her if she is able to move. One is the house of Victor Mahr, and the other her own home. There is love and hate to count on, and sooner or later one will draw her within reach. I'll have the closest watch put about that I can devise. There's nothing you can do, sir—now. If you'll rest to-night, you'll be better able to stand to-morrow, and if I can verify my idea in the least I'll tell you. Let your secretary watch here; ...
— Out of the Ashes • Ethel Watts Mumford

... price, so rich, they'd stand alone, And diamonds blazing on the buckled zone; Rows of rare pearls by curious workmen set, And bracelets fair in box of glossy jet; Bright polish'd amber precious from its size, Or forms the fairest fancy could devise: Her drawers of cedar, shut with secret springs, Conceal'd the watch of gold and rubied rings; Letters, long proofs of love, and verses fine Round the pink'd rims of crisped Valentine. Her china-closet, cause of daily care, For woman's wonder held her pencill'd ware; ...
— The Parish Register • George Crabbe

... with indignation I have hurl'd At the pretending part of this proud world, Who, swollen with selfish vanity, devise False freedoms, formal cheats, and holy lies, Over their ...
— The Romany Rye - A Sequel to 'Lavengro' • George Borrow

... of Cleves landed at Deal. Henry, who had been led to believe that Anne was both accomplished and moderately beautiful, could not conceal his disappointment when he met his prospective bride; but, as his trusted counsellors could devise no plan of escape, he consented with bad grace to go through the ceremony of marriage (6th Jan., 1540). Henry was displeased and made no secret of his displeasure. Cromwell, whom he blamed specially for this matrimonial misfortune, felt himself in considerable danger, though at ...
— History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance • Rev. James MacCaffrey

... it," said the soldier. "I have but one life, but I will willingly give it to save his. I cannot devise schemes, but I know something, and if it succeeds he need not go to the gold-mines. I will put the wine-flask aside—give me a drink of water, for the next few hours I must ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... the South have a very high opinion of Northern cleverness in devising means of procuring their liberty. The Author here uses the language employed by a slave girl who frequently implored aid to devise some plan by which she would be enabled to make her escape. Northerners could do great things for us, if they would but know us as we are, study our feelings, cast aside selfish motives, and sustain our rights!" Clotilda now commenced giving Maxwell ...
— Our World, or, The Slaveholders Daughter • F. Colburn Adams

... young Daniel disliked this toil very much, and was among the earliest to devise "niggering," as it was called. In this process a stick of wood was laid across the log and lighted with fire, so it would burn down through the larger log, when fanned by the breeze, ...
— The New England Magazine, Volume 1, No. 5, Bay State Monthly, Volume 4, No. 5, May, 1886 • Various

... Kurho was aware of the new weapon; it made his own people uneasy and restless; such a thing at loose in the valley could only spell threat to all peoples! But, if it was to be, then what the tribe of Gor-wah devised Kurho's tribe would also devise. They would ...
— The Beginning • Henry Hasse

... his head in his hands and reflected long and earnestly on the course to pursue. He recalled the words of Oracus, the brave young chief, who could muster a hundred warriors. He was cunning and might devise some plan of escape, and Charles was not long in resolving what to do. He would not act hurriedly. He would be desperate; but that desperation would have coolness and premeditation ...
— The Witch of Salem - or Credulity Run Mad • John R. Musick

... perceived he was bleeding profusely from a wound in the throat, and was perfectly unconscious. Mr. —— came up almost at the moment, and while the gamekeeper and I bore Arthur to a farm-house hard by, he went off to call the nearest doctor. Everything has been done that skill and care could devise. The physician from B—— is here, besides Mr. Gordon, the village-surgeon. They pronounce the wound very serious, but still hold out hopes that with great care he may yet recover. There is no doubt that in leaping the hedge, and holding his gun carelessly, my cousin had ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 85, November, 1864 • Various

... other's arms, and the intervening hours till evening were spent in endeavouring to devise some better mode of supplying the captive with nourishment, and in the construction of a tube, composed of hollow reeds, slipping into each other, by which liquids might be conveyed to him. The bell of the village church of Falkland tolled to vespers. The dey, or farm woman, entered with ...
— The Fair Maid of Perth • Sir Walter Scott

... scenario for you. But before I could finish it I had come back to London; and now it is all up with the scenario: in England I can do nothing but talk. I therefore now send you the thing as far as I scribbled it; and I leave you to invent what escapades you please for the hero, and to devise some sensational means of getting him back to heaven again, unless you prefer to end with the millennium in ...
— Gilbert Keith Chesterton • Maisie Ward

... in mind," quoth Boswell, and he made a note of my injunction. "And immediately upon my return to Hades I will request an audience with Henry's queens, and ask them to devise a number of other tours likely ...
— The Enchanted Typewriter • John Kendrick Bangs

... scheme and plan and devise and foresee. He must create in imagination today the results that he is to achieve tomorrow. He must combine the elements of his past experiential complexes into a mental picture of future events as he would have them. Riches are but the material realization of a financial imagination. ...
— Power of Mental Imagery • Warren Hilton

... the Esterlinges and the trades with the cities within the Sounde of Denmarke, they beinge deprived of the olde priviledges of the Stilliarde here in London, have not only offred our men at home many injuries in their cities, but seeke all the meanes they can devise wholy to cutt of all our occupienge that way; and to the same purpose have lately cleane debarred our men of their accustomed and auncient priviledges in all their greate townes. (M220) Also the exactions of the Kinge of Denmarke ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of - the English Nation. Vol. XIII. America. Part II. • Richard Hakluyt

... of Gakwak being about to lose its character of capital of the province of Ukwuk, the Wampog issued a proclamation convening all the male residents in council in the Temple of Ul to devise means of defence. The first speaker thought the best policy would be to offer a fried jackass to the gods. The second suggested a public procession, headed by the Wampog himself, bearing the Holy Poker on a cushion of cloth-of-brass. Another thought that a ...
— Fantastic Fables • Ambrose Bierce

... of gray steel, He bored the life and soul out of the beast.— 50 Not swifter a swift thought of woe or weal Darts through the tumult of a human breast Which thronging cares annoy—not swifter wheel The flashes of its torture and unrest Out of the dizzy eyes—than Maia's son 55 All that he did devise hath ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume I • Percy Bysshe Shelley

... moments at her command in which to devise an issue out of these tangled meshes, which she had woven round ...
— I Will Repay • Baroness Emmuska Orczy

... take another example,—when salt is added to vegetables it draws out from them into the water their mineral salts and any proteid which will build tissue for us. In most vegetables the cooking water is thrown away so that much of the value of the vegetable is lost. Why should we not try to devise a method of cooking which will save for us this food value? Salt is added for flavor only, so why cannot the salt be added a short time before the cooking is finished so that it will not have time to draw out ...
— Mother's Remedies - Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers - of the United States and Canada • T. J. Ritter

... Director and Editor shall be the executive of the Association when it or the Executive Council is not in session. He shall devise plans for the collection of documents, direct the studies of members of the Association, and determine what matter shall be published in the Journal of Negro History. He shall employ a business manager and clerk, the last mentioned to serve also as the Assistant to the Secretary-Treasurer. He may ...
— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 7, 1922 • Various

... in the socialist state they will be better not worse provided for than under the present competitive system. For here again the principle of the expert will come in. It will be the business of the state, if it determines that such activities ought to be encouraged, to devise a machinery for selecting and educating men of genius, in proportion to the demand, and assigning to them their appropriate sphere of activity and their sufficient wage. This will apply, I conceive, equally to the ministers ...
— A Modern Symposium • G. Lowes Dickinson

... is aroused by a call to arms. It is now nearly a century ago that our fathers assembled in mass meetings in this city to devise ways and means for this very flag which to-day we give to the winds of heaven, bearing defiance from every star. Fired, then, with the same spirit of freedom that kindles on this spot to-day, for the time throwing aside the habiliments of peace, ...
— The World's Best Orations, Vol. 1 (of 10) • Various

... the night at eight. You would have to obey rules, which would seem to you unnecessary and tiresome. You would be, I am afraid, profoundly bored. On the other hand, you would have every attention that skill and science can devise. You would not have to pay a penny, and you would have a better chance than a duchess in a ducal palace. Think it over, and let me know! If you decide to go, I'll manage the rest. Take a day—a couple ...
— The Independence of Claire • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... institutional life that commands admiration. The standards then set have become a tradition that has been preserved unbroken for a hundred years. Humane methods of care, the progressively best that medical science can devise, the utilization of a growingly productive pursuit of research, have consistently marked the administration of this great trust. The Governors of to-day are as determined as any of their predecessors to maintain that ideal of "pure and ...
— A Psychiatric Milestone - Bloomingdale Hospital Centenary, 1821-1921 • Various

... the English soil to produce everything necessary in the manufacture of cloth, says: "So as there wanteth, if colours might be brought in and made naturall, but onely oile; the want whereof if any man could devise to supply at the full with anything that might become naturall in this realme, he, whatsoever he were that might bring it about, might deserve immortal fame in this our Commonwealth, and such a devise was offered to Parliament and refused, because they denied ...
— The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare • Henry Nicholson Ellacombe

... middle-aged governess, Miss McCroke, learnt what she pleased, and left what she disliked unlearned. She had the prettiest ponies in Hampshire to ride, the prettiest dresses to wear. Her mother was not a woman to bestow mental culture upon her only child, but she racked her small brain to devise becoming costumes for Violet: the coloured stockings which harmonised best with each particular gown, the neat little buckled shoes, the fascinating Hessian boots. Nothing was too beautiful or too costly for Violet. She was the one thing her ...
— Vixen, Volume I. • M. E. Braddon

... a State conference of negroes was held in Newark to devise ways and means to cooperate with the State authorities in looking after the welfare of migrants. Soon after this conference, it was decided to establish a State bureau, "for the welfare and employment of the colored citizens in the State and particularly to look after the housing, employment and ...
— Negro Migration during the War • Emmett J. Scott

... and who in prosperity was hurried into extravagance by his joy, while in adversity grief overwhelmed him with despondency. Having suffered many inconveniences through this weakness, he besought his courtiers to devise a sentence, short enough to be engraved upon a ring, which should suggest a remedy for his evil. Many phrases were proposed; none were found acceptable until his daughter offered him an emerald on which were ...
— A History of the Four Georges and of William IV, Volume III (of 4) • Justin McCarthy and Justin Huntly McCarthy

... Instances in which they have been violated peremptorily requiring them to take every Step which the Constitution prescribes to redress our Grievances, or if every such Step has been already taken, to inform their Constituents, that they may devise such Measures as they may see their way clear to take, or patiently bear the Yoke. I will acquaint you with the proceedings of the Town as they pass. In the mean time I wish your Town would think it proper to have a Meeting, which may be most seasonable ...
— The Writings of Samuel Adams, volume II (1770 - 1773) - collected and edited by Harry Alonso Cushing • Samuel Adams

... all eyes are fastened on the preacher—look at her till your heart melts, as if she were your ain, and God had given you that beautifu' wee image o' her sainted mother, and tell me if you think that a' the tortures that cruelty could devise to inflict, would ever ring frae thae sweet innocent lips ae word o' abjuration o' the faith in which the flower is growing up amang the dew-draps o' her ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. 14, Issue 405, December 19, 1829 • Various

... in heaven. But the human heart has to go through much before it is able to house even a suspicion of the superabounding riches of the creating and saving God. The foolish child thinks there can be nothing where he sees nothing; the human heart feels as if where it cannot devise help, there is none possible to God; as if God like the heart must be content to botch the thing up, and make, as we say, the best ...
— Weighed and Wanting • George MacDonald

... my wrath and my venom flow forth and my malice boileth out, do ye assiduously spread the whole tide amongst the damned, particularly the Christians. Urge the instruments of torture to the utmost—devise as many more as you can—double the fire and the boiling, until the very cauldrons be overturned; and when they are in the most extreme, inexpressible torture, mock, deride, and upbraid them; and when your whole stock of ironry and bitterness ...
— The Sleeping Bard - or, Visions of the World, Death, and Hell • Ellis Wynne

... then she did not exhibit as tender an interest in the major as the student had hoped she would do; but, as the major's truest friend, he continued to sound his praises, and to pay Miss Elserly, in the major's stead, every kind of attention he could devise. ...
— Romance of California Life • John Habberton

... in such matters, he could not do the family mending, or knit for the soldiers, or remodel old garments into new, it behooved him to render such tasks pleasant for the busy hand and brain that must devise and create and make much out of little for economy's sake; and this Bertrand did ...
— The Eye of Dread • Payne Erskine

... naturally sought each other, only to find themselves surrounded by a group of tormentors who were delighted to have such promising objects for their fun. And of this opportunity they made the most. There was no form of petty cruelty boys' minds could devise that was not inflicted upon the two helpless strangers. Edward seemed to look particularly inviting, and nicknaming him "Dutchy" they devoted themselves at each noon recess and after school to inflicting ...
— A Dutch Boy Fifty Years After • Edward Bok

... generally with the favor and approval of those with whom he deals. It is a general power to direct to the matter in hand whatever qualities are most needed for it at the moment. It includes adroitness and discretion to know what to do or say and what to avoid; ingenuity to devise; readiness to speak or act; the dexterity that comes of practise; and tact, which is the power of fine touch as applied to human character and feeling. Courtesy and politeness are indispensable elements of ...
— English Synonyms and Antonyms - With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions • James Champlin Fernald

... believe that an army so little numerous as that of Brown could have accomplished the ambitious designs confided to it; but that does not affect the clear duty of affording it the utmost assistance that ingenuity could devise and energy effect. The words quoted were written August 10, but ignore entirely an alternative suggested in a letter received that day from the Secretary, dated July 24, itself the repetition of one made July 20: ...
— Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812 - Volume 2 • Alfred Thayer Mahan

... a thousand vague hopes and expectations, and the conviction, communicated to his friend Mauvillon, that "it was not given to human sagacity to devise where all this would end." A living conflict of passions and principles, of low needs and high ambitions, of lofty genius and infamous repute, a demagogue by policy, an aristocrat by vanity, a constitutionalist by conviction, his public conduct anxiously and perpetually ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 3, August, 1850. • Various

... doors. I then replaced the key, washed up my pitcher, and secreted the bottle of brandy in the waist of the nun's dress. This I could easily do, their dresses being made with a loose waist, and a large cape worn over them. I then began to devise some way to destroy the scent in the room. I could smell it very distinctly, and I knew that the Superior would notice it at once. After trying various expedients to no purpose, I at length remembered ...
— Life in the Grey Nunnery at Montreal • Sarah J Richardson

... the problem of space for baths and closets. The former were, of course, unknown and the latter woefully few when the house was young. Thus, with the bedroom floor, architect and owner have before them a problem demanding skillful contriving to devise locations for ...
— If You're Going to Live in the Country • Thomas H. Ormsbee and Richmond Huntley

... knowing how obstinate the old woman had always been, but he felt a tempest of disappointment sweeping over his heart. He was turning over in his mind what he ought to do, what plan he could devise, surprised, moreover, that she had not conquered them already as she had captivated himself. And they, all four, walked along through the wheat fields, having gradually relapsed into silence. Whenever they passed a fence they saw a countryman sitting ...
— Maupassant Original Short Stories (180), Complete • Guy de Maupassant

... to adapt our electoral methods to the more perfect organization of a progressive democracy. By cumulative pressure the evils set forth in the preceding chapters can have but one result; they will compel English statesmen, as they have compelled or are compelling Continental statesmen, to devise an effective remedy; and although individual politicians may resist and retard the advent of reformed methods, the demand for better representative institutions will in the ...
— Proportional Representation - A Study in Methods of Election • John H. Humphreys

... the mind Of him, who to strict Honor is inclined. Though all the pomp and pleasure that does wait On public places, and affairs of state; Though all the storms and tempests should arise, That Church magicians in their cells devise, And from their settled basis nations tear: He would, unmoved, the mighty ruin bear. Secure in innocence, contemn them all, And, decently arrayed, ...
— Remember the Alamo • Amelia E. Barr

... honoured members of society—insurance presidents, or bank cashiers, or church treasurers. He didn't say how the reformed burglars were to find employment in banks and insurance offices, and such, but that was a matter of detail, and he always preferred to devise large and noble schemes, and leave the working details of ...
— The Idler Magazine, Volume III, March 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various

... like to fires Of venom spat on me, the sorrow eats Through the thin robe of sense into my soul. And it is cried against me, this keen anguish, By my own people and my God's;—and thou Didst love them. Therefore thou must needs forgive me, That I devise how this my beauty, this Sacred to thy long-dead joy of desire, May turn to weapon in the hand of God; Such weapon as he hath taken aforetime To sword whole nations at a stroke to their knees,— Storms of the air and hilted fire from heaven, And ...
— Emblems Of Love • Lascelles Abercrombie

... Venus. There the Greek tale ends. But Peele adds an ingenious sequel. Juno and Pallas, indignant at the slight put upon them, appeal against this decision to a council of the gods. This brings quite a crowd of deities upon the stage, unable to devise a solution to such a knotty problem of wounded pride. Paris is summoned before this high court, but clears himself from the charge of unjust partiality. Finally it is agreed that the arbitrament of Diana shall be invited and ...
— The Growth of English Drama • Arnold Wynne

... that the nation which had given to the world a weapon so formidable as the undersea fighter had within it the ability to devise a means of combating it successfully. And, as a matter of fact, long before we went into the conflict the Navy Department had not ignored consideration of ways and means in this respect. As a consequence, when ...
— Our Navy in the War • Lawrence Perry

... devise a key by which to read this book, as well as a Key to the Calories, for sometimes you are to read the title headings and side explanations before the text. Other times you are supposed to read the text and then the headings. It really does not matter much as long as you read them both. ...
— Diet and Health - With Key to the Calories • Lulu Hunt Peters

... shape of a heart transfixed with an arrow, done out of red flannel. This at once won the admiration and envy of the soldiers. They now saw what they wished, in the way of a patch, and proceeded to get it. Each one set his ingenuity to work to devise something unique. Soon the results began to appear. Upon the seats of one, and another, and another, were displayed figures of birds, beasts and men—a spread eagle, a cow, a horse, a cannon. One artist depicted a "Cupid" with his bow, and just across on the ...
— From the Rapidan to Richmond and the Spottsylvania Campaign - A Sketch in Personal Narration of the Scenes a Soldier Saw • William Meade Dame

... things on the instrument board. So, wishing to handle this harrowing situation alone, with true scout prowess and resource, he kicked around among the ruins of that tyrannous and fallen empire, and tried to devise some plan. ...
— Pee-wee Harris on the Trail • Percy Keese Fitzhugh

... much imagination to be honest. He used to devise schemes of money-getting so fraudulent and high-financial that they wouldn't have been allowed in the bylaws ...
— The Gentle Grafter • O. Henry

... left home, your purse had been emptied at some watering place, we'll say by gamblers, sharpers, black legs, &c.; but no matter how: there are many ways of emptying a purse; and you are now come over to our rich old England to devise means for filling it again. All right. He, that loses his money at one sort of game, must try to draw it back by some other: and in England there are many. One man marries a rich heiress: another quacks: another opens a tabernacle, ...
— Walladmor: - And Now Freely Translated from the German into English. - In Two Volumes. Vol. I. • Thomas De Quincey

... cabbage palm-trees and cocoa-nut trees. We here spied two huts, situated on the edge of the wood, to which we directed our course; and, before we came up to them, were descried by two men, who immediately ran away from us, notwithstanding all the peaceable and supplicating gestures we could devise. ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17 • Robert Kerr

... rage. But he ended by grinning wryly. Everyone was in the same boat, of course. For the most part, people avoided thinking about it. But he could now see himself as if from above, spending his life flitting back and forth between home and plant, plant and home; wracking his brain to devise labor-saving machines while at the plant, then rushing home to struggle with the need ...
— Waste Not, Want • Dave Dryfoos

... honourably make special terms for itself and leave the others in the lurch. As to mediation, I was favourable to it in principle, but the real question was: On what terms could the war be ended? If the United States could devise anything that would bring this war to an end and prevent another such war being forced on Europe I ...
— The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, Volume I • Burton J. Hendrick

... a rigid discipline was the American commander's first objective in the training schedules which he ordered his staff to devise. After this schedule had been in operation not ten days, I happened to witness a demonstration of American discipline which might be compared to an improved incident of Damocles dining under the suspended sword ...
— "And they thought we wouldn't fight" • Floyd Gibbons

... overcome these difficulties by his improved apparatus, and has skiagraphed, though rather obscurely, the shoulder and trunk, and Rowland has been able to do the same. Doubtless when we are able to devise apparatus of greater penetration, and to control the effect of the rays, we shall be able to skiagraph clearly even through the entire ...
— McClure's Magazine, Vol. VI., No. 6, May, 1896 • Various

... considered in Europe, she was no match for the power of Lewis. She apprehended, not without good cause, that his kingdom might soon be extended to her frontiers; and she might well dread the immediate vicinity of a monarch so great, so ambitious, and so unscrupulous. Yet it was not easy to devise any expedient which might avert the danger. The Dutch alone could not turn the scale against France. On the side of the Rhine no help was to be expected. Several German princes had been gained by Lewis; and the Emperor himself was embarrassed ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 1 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... by the present noise and confusion of battle. Still at heart we care—and not we only but also our enemies and all neutrals benevolent or malevolent—for the ends for which civilization exists, for the peace and order and justice which are their necessary conditions: we still have minds to devise and wills to execute whatever is necessary to its progress. Still we are willing to learn of history and resolved to better its instruction, to know ourselves and our world and adjust our ideas and our acts to the situation ...
— The Unity of Civilization • Various

... was the reply. Unmoved by his entreaties, the soothsayer said he had the emperor's command for the use of every method he could devise for the recovery of this precious and priceless jewel; and that, furthermore, the safety and even lives of many innocent persons depended on the stranger's exertions, and the speedy execution of his ...
— Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 2 (of 2) • John Roby

... sailless cargo slave, in the keen competition that must arise, will be fitted with such appliances as human ingenuity can in future devise, or has already tentatively suggested, for invoking the aid of natural powers in order to supplement the steam-engine and effect a saving in fuel. One of these will no doubt be the adoption of the heavy pendulum with universal joint movement in a special ...
— Twentieth Century Inventions - A Forecast • George Sutherland

... Washington saw a real importance in what many persons might esteem only empty forms, and he proceeded with his customary thoroughness in dealing with the subject. What he did would be a precedent for the future as well as a target for present criticism, and he determined to devise a scheme which would resist attack, and be worthy to stand as an example for his successors. He therefore wrote to Madison: "The true medium, I conceive, must lie in pursuing such a course as will allow him (the President) time for all ...
— George Washington, Vol. II • Henry Cabot Lodge

... seized the pad and tried to thrust it back in its place, but soon found that this was impossible, and, before he could devise some plan, the knot in front of Gwyn's breast reached the edge, and a greater call was made upon ...
— Sappers and Miners - The Flood beneath the Sea • George Manville Fenn

... Middlebrook, an attempt to cross the Delaware in the face of an army collected on its western bank, while that under Washington remained unbroken in his rear, was an experiment of equal danger. It suited the cautious temper of Howe to devise some other plan of operation to which he might resort should he be unable to seduce ...
— Life And Times Of Washington, Volume 2 • John Frederick Schroeder and Benson John Lossing

... mankind and becomes peculiarly intense in the type known as artistic. The fulness of his own emotions compels the musician to utterance. To strike a sympathetic chord in other sensitive breasts it becomes necessary to devise forms of expression ...
— For Every Music Lover - A Series of Practical Essays on Music • Aubertine Woodward Moore

... eunuch had little manhood, and Zeno was a characterless old author who had won the Queen's esteem, and the high office which he occupied solely by the vivid power of imagination, that enabled him constantly to devise new exhibitions, amusements, and entertainments, and ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... Hazard had his way. George consented to do all he asked and even to take Esther away himself if it were necessary. The next morning he appeared soon after breakfast at his aunt's to report Hazard's wishes and to devise the means of satisfying them. Much to his relief, and rather to his astonishment, he found Mrs. Murray disposed to look with favor on the idea. She listened quietly to his story, and after ...
— Esther • Henry Adams

... thou wilt not be forbidden from this talk, I will make thee a byword and a reproach among folk." When the Minister heard her answer, he knew that she was chaste of soul and body; wherefore he repented with the utmost of repentance and feared for himself from the king and said, "Needs must I devise a device whereby I may destroy her; else shall I be disgraced with the king." Now when the king returned from his journey, he questioned Kardan of the affairs of his kingdom, and the Wazir answered, ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 1 • Richard F. Burton

... Madame Roland," by Dauban, 82. Letter of Madame Roland to Bosc, July 26, 1798. "You busy yourselves with a municipality and allow heads to escape which will devise new horrors. You are mere children; your enthusiasm is merely a straw bonfire! If the National Assembly does not try two illustrious heads in regular form or some generous Decius strike them down, you are all lost.—" Ibid.,, May 17, 1790: "Our rural ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 3 (of 6) - The French Revolution, Volume 2 (of 3) • Hippolyte A. Taine

... in sight ahead, steering toward us; and, approaching each other rapidly, as we were, another quarter of an hour sufficed us to discover that she was a frigate, and undoubtedly French. We stood on, however, a few minutes longer, trying to devise some scheme for slipping past her without being brought to, but it evidently would not do; her people suspected us, and clearly intended to have a nearer look at us if they could; so, as she was altogether ...
— The Log of a Privateersman • Harry Collingwood

... was shot into the air the instant it touched the pony's back. It was back in place in no time, however. After a time the broncho paused, as if to devise some new method of getting rid of the ...
— The Pony Rider Boys in Texas - Or, The Veiled Riddle of the Plains • Frank Gee Patchin

... endeavouring to console myself with the reflection that in a few hours Nature would assuredly administer to the backslider a more terrible and appropriate correction than any that I could devise. ...
— Berry And Co. • Dornford Yates

... of this chronicle the status of interstellar flight was very similar to that of intercontinental jet-plane flight in the nineteen-sixties. Starships were designed by humanity's best brains; carried every safety device those brains could devise. They were maintained and serviced by ultra-skilled, ultra-trained, ultra-able crews; they were operated by the creme-de-la-creme of manhood. Only a man with an extremely capable mind in an extremely capable body could become an officer ...
— Subspace Survivors • E. E. Smith

... French took the part of the American colonies in their revolt from England, and the war thus occasioned brought on an increase of the load of debt, the general distress increased, and it became necessary to devise some mode of taxing which might divide the burthens between the whole nation, instead of making the peasants pay all and the nobles and clergy nothing. Louis decided on calling together the Notables, or higher nobility; but they were by ...
— History of France • Charlotte M. Yonge

... was a private mystery. But when he was persuaded by divers means to help us, he gave up after one week, declaring it beyond his powers. They were even planning what might best be done to chastise him when he discovered in some manner a book of elementary conjuration and did then devise some strange new formula from the elements ...
— The Sky Is Falling • Lester del Rey

... the Hall of Science." The Commons of England were also requested to notice that "Dr. Aveling, who for some years has been one of Mr. Bradlaugh's chief helpers, is another contributor to this disgraceful product of Atheism." In conclusion, they were called upon to "devise means to stay this hideous prostitution of the liberty of the Press, by making these shameless blasphemers amenable to the ...
— Prisoner for Blasphemy • G. W. [George William] Foote

... intimate and indignant persuasion of Aram's innocence; and at this day, in the county where he last resided, there still lingers the same belief. Firm as his gospel faith, that conviction rested in the mind of the worthy Lester; and he sought, by every means he could devise, to soothe and cheer the confinement of his friend. In prison, however (indeed after his examination—after Aram had made himself thoroughly acquainted with all the circumstantial evidence which identified Clarke with Geoffrey Lester, a story that till then ...
— Eugene Aram, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... heavy white envelope. She drew forth the sheet and sat an instant with it in her fingers, watching the expression of Nancy Ellen's face, while she read the most restrained yet impassioned plea that a man of George Holt's nature and opportunities could devise to make to a woman after having spent several months in the construction of it. It was a masterly letter, perfectly composed, spelled, and written; for among his other fields of endeavour, George Holt had taught ...
— A Daughter of the Land • Gene Stratton-Porter

... that something should be done to remove this evil. The best, perhaps, would be to devise some arrangement by which each lance could be attached to its own horse. If that is possible, then the shoe must be made so deep that the lance cannot be thrown out. It is obvious that this problem will not be ...
— Cavalry in Future Wars • Frederick von Bernhardi

... her toilet, and was decorating her head with all the grace she could devise to captivate Matta, at the moment he was denied admittance: she knew nothing of the matter; but her husband knew every particular. He had taken it in dudgeon that the first visit was not paid to him, and as he was resolved that ...
— The Memoirs of Count Grammont, Complete • Anthony Hamilton

... died, bearing witness to the truth, 'He endured the cross, despising the shame' (Heb 12:2). How have the martyrs despised death, and, as it were, not been careful of that, having peace with God by Jesus Christ, scorning the most cruel torments that hell and men could devise and invent! but Jesus Christ could not do so, as he was a sacrifice for sin; he died for sin, he was made a curse for us. O my brethren, Christ died many deaths at once, he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death. Look how many thousands shall be saved—so ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... nearer happiness at this reply than he had ever been since his wife's death; for the only way he could devise to satisfy his reproachful conscience towards his neglected and unhappy sister, was to plan a marriage between his son and her child. He rubbed his hands and drank ...
— The Moorland Cottage • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

... day and Vera had certainly rallied. She lay in the sombre old library, that had been turned into the most luxurious bedroom that Saltash's and Juliet's ingenuity could devise, listening to the tinkle of the water in the conservatory and watching Juliet who sat in a low chair by her side with a book in her lap ready ...
— The Obstacle Race • Ethel M. Dell

... which faced the Baltimore enthusiasts in their task of keeping their city "on the map" would have daunted men of less heroic mold. Every conceivable trial and test which nature and machinery could seemingly devise was a part of their day's work for twelve years struggles with grades, locomotives, rails, cars. As Rumsey, Fitch, and Fulton in their experiments with boats had floundered despondently with endless chains, oars, paddles, duck's feet, so now Thomas ...
— The Paths of Inland Commerce - A Chronicle of Trail, Road, and Waterway, Volume 21 in The - Chronicles of America Series • Archer B. Hulbert

... these shores goes out laden with people who are weighed down with flowers, it cannot but be a severe tax on the ingenuity of the florist to devise novel and appropriate forms for the typical basket that shall say bon voyage in a thousand new ways. Floral ships, anchors, stars, crosses, mottoes, monograms, and even the national flag, have been used for ...
— Manners and Social Usages • Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood

... white fog clung round the house. Where should she see any light? What opening for extrication, unless, indeed, Emilia should die? There could be no harm in that thought, for she knew it was not to be, and that the swoon would not last much longer. Who could devise anything? No one. There was nothing. Almost always in perplexities there is some thread by resolutely holding to which one escapes at last. Here there was none. There could probably be no concealment, certainly ...
— Malbone - An Oldport Romance • Thomas Wentworth Higginson

... squire's annoyance at the failure of a scheme which he had contemplated with so much delight, did not prevent him from feeling the most sincere sympathy for Mrs. Goddard, nor from constantly wishing that he could devise some plan for helping her. She seemed never to have thought of divorcing herself from her husband. The squire was not sure whether such a thing were possible; he doubted it, and promised himself that he would get a lawyer's opinion upon the matter. He believed ...
— A Tale of a Lonely Parish • F. Marion Crawford

... brow, who lay chained, and yet could walk forth over the earth, and whose pale daughter, Hela, was the gaoler of the unworthy dead. They thought the brave who died in battle had the happiest lot their rude fancies could devise; they lived in the Hall of Odin, hunting all day, feasting all night, and drinking mead from the skulls of ...
— The Chosen People - A Compendium Of Sacred And Church History For School-Children • Charlotte Mary Yonge

... then asked General Sherman what his plans were. To this General Sherman replied that he had no plans; that no sufficient force had been placed at his disposition with which to devise any plan of operations; that, before a commanding general could project a plan of campaign, he must know what amount of force he ...
— The Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Complete • William T. Sherman

... open and bolder in their course, throwing every impediment in the way of the Safety Committee of Tryon county, and causing embarrassments in every way their ingenuity could devise. They called public meetings themselves, as well as to interfere with those of their neighbors; all of which caused mutual exasperation, and the engendering of hostile feelings between friends, who now ranged themselves with ...
— An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America • J. P. MacLean

... knoweth my secret; Ye, my affectionate and faithful servants, What remedy can ye now devise for my ease? What will ye do for me? What promise will ye give me? Some remedy ye must devise, To free my heart and soul ...
— National Epics • Kate Milner Rabb

... with the Deputy Governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island. This committee met at Cambridge, with a committee of the council of Massachusetts Bay. The object and duty of the meeting was to consider the condition of the army, and to devise means by which it could ...
— The Black Phalanx - African American soldiers in the War of Independence, the - War of 1812, and the Civil War • Joseph T. Wilson

... holiest, that which in some measure redeemed the vanity of the rest, were those relating to her father; her dear father, now oppressed with care, and always a disheartened, gloomy person. How she would surround him with every comfort she could devise (of course, he was to live with them), till he should acknowledge riches to be very pleasant things, and bless his lady-daughter! Every one who had shown her kindness in her low estate should then be repaid ...
— Mary Barton • Elizabeth Gaskell

... important is, that the industries and resources of the country should be available and ready for mobilization. It is the more imperatively necessary, therefore, that we should promptly devise means for doing what we have not yet done: that we should give intelligent federal aid and stimulation to industrial and vocational education, as we have long done in the large field of our agricultural industry; that, at the same time that we safeguard and conserve ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various

... to Boston from Scotland. These isolated experiments were made with no regard to system, and led to no results. A glass tube, and some other apparatus that had been sent to Franklin by a friend in London, enabled him to repeat and verify these experiments. He soon began to devise new forms of investigation for himself, and at length made the great discovery, which may be said to be the foundation of electrical science, that there is a positive and negative state of electricity. ...
— Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 4 of 8 • Various

... investigation can not be laid down, or that they may not be "of eminent service," but that they "must always be comparatively vague and general, and incapable of being built up into a regular demonstrative theory like that of the Syllogism." (Book iv., ch. iv., 3.) And he observes, that to devise a system for this purpose, capable of being "brought into a scientific form," would be an achievement which "he must be more sanguine than scientific who expects." (Book iv., ch. ii., 4.) To effect this, however, being ...
— A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive • John Stuart Mill

... tells us that he often encountered the criticism that intelligence tests are superfluous, and that in going to so much trouble to devise his measuring scale he was forcing an open door. Those who made this criticism believed that the observant teacher or parent is able to make an offhand estimate of a child's intelligence which is accurate enough. "It is a stupid teacher," said one, "who needs a psychologist to ...
— The Measurement of Intelligence • Lewis Madison Terman

... to have spent my whole life in meditating my defence?" And when Hermogenes asked him, "How?" he added: "By a lifelong persistence in doing nothing wrong, and that I take to be the finest practice for his defence which a man could devise." Presently reverting to the topic, Hermogenes demanded: "Do you not see, Socrates, how often Athenian juries [8] are constrained by arguments to put quite innocent people to death, and not less ...
— The Apology • Xenophon

... undertake to make good her barbarous threat, realizing opportunely that it would only serve to betray her desperate intentions and put her husband further on his guard. Instead she shut herself into her room, where she paced the floor, racking her brain to guess where the hiding-place could be or to devise some means of silencing Sebastian's tongue. To feel that she had been overmatched, to know that there was indeed a treasure, to think that the two who knew where it was had been laughing at her all this time, filled the woman with an agony approaching that which Sebastian ...
— Rainbow's End • Rex Beach

... devise no other means. I thought and thought, but there was no alternate except a hideous public scandal, and a private sorrow which would have clouded our lives. I acted for the best, incredible as it may seem to you, ...
— Tales of Terror and Mystery • Arthur Conan Doyle

... the wildest schemes for sport you can devise. And Constance, though she looks so stately, can unbend like a school-girl. As for her voice—you must hear her pretty soon. Janet is anxious to touch her old piano again, and both are always obliging with their music. They are equal to quite ...
— Strawberry Acres • Grace S. Richmond

... and Emerson Needham, the former owner of Bender, who tracked the band to their retreat. Finding it impossible to call or drive the criminals out, they blocked the entrance of the den with large stones, and then came home to devise some way of destroying them—since it is a pretty well-established fact that when once a dog has relapsed into the savage habits of his wild ancestry ...
— When Life Was Young - At the Old Farm in Maine • C. A. Stephens

... succession was to be mentioned to William at a private audience. Tallard was fully informed of all that had passed in the conferences which the French ministers had held with Portland; and was furnished with all the arguments that the ingenuity of publicists could devise in favour of the ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 5 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... before the war with Denmark, until the day when through her efforts and statecraft he was driven from office,—a vanquished foe. He had used in vain every weapon against her that his ingenuity could devise. He had even gone so far as to publicly charge her with treason in betraying to the English, and through them to the French, military secrets which had been imparted to her by her husband, during the war of 1870. He had, in short, done everything that ...
— The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2) • Mme. La Marquise de Fontenoy

... Persons who devise these contrivances, gentlemen, have not, as I observed to you yesterday, the skill to provide for all circumstances, and now and then the very things which they do to effect concealment, shall lead to detection.—Now mark:—Mr. Cochrane Johnstone ...
— The Trial of Charles Random de Berenger, Sir Thomas Cochrane, • William Brodie Gurney

... will be able to devise such wise and salutary measures as shall effectually check ...
— Speeches of His Majesty Kamehameha IV. To the Hawaiian Legislature • Kamehameha IV

... laws of men? Are outward rites More virtuous than the very substance is Of holy nuptials solemnized within? .... The eternal acts of our pure souls Knit us with God, the soul of all the world, He shall be priest to us; and with such rites As we can here devise we will express And strongly ratify our hearts' true vows, Which no external ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 6 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis

... explained and confirmed the proposition of our present argument, I will make my next for the confutation of the answers which our opposites devise to elude it. And, First, They tell us, that it is needless to abolish utterly things and rites which the Papists have abused to idolatry and superstition, and that it is enough to purge them from the abuse, and to restore them again to their right use. Hence ...
— The Works of Mr. George Gillespie (Vol. 1 of 2) • George Gillespie

... composition, full of reciprocal allusions; and, above all, by dovetailing their fabrications into true history, thus encountering a perpetual danger of collision between the two; all as if to accumulate upon their task every difficulty which ingenuity could devise! Could I believe that such men as those to whom history restricts the problem had been able, while thus giving every advantage to the detection of imposture, to invent a narrative so infinitely varied in form and style, composed by so many different hands, ...
— The Eclipse of Faith - Or, A Visit To A Religious Sceptic • Henry Rogers

... Mrs Askerton for proposing it. He had declared to himself that her welfare, Clara's welfare, was the one thing which the should regard; and he had told himself that he was not strong enough, either in purpose or in wit, to devise schemes for her welfare. She was better able to manage things for herself than he was to manage them for her. If she loved this 'accursed beast,' let her marry him; only for that was now his one difficulty only he could not bring ...
— The Belton Estate • Anthony Trollope

... fact remains that the lumber trust was losing and that it would have to devise even more drastic measures if it were to hope to escape the prospect of a very humiliating defeat. And, all the while the organization of the lumber workers continued ...
— The Centralia Conspiracy • Ralph Chaplin

... the works of Leonardo; there came to Milan, in his time, the King of France, wherefore Leonardo being asked to devise some bizarre thing, made a lion which walked several steps and then opened its breast, and ...
— Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects - Vol. 04 (of 10), Filippino Lippi to Domenico Puligo • Giorgio Vasari

... may derive much valuable information from the conversation of those among whom we live, even though it should relate to the most ordinary subjects and concerns. And not only so, we may often devise means to change the conversation, either directly, by gradually introducing other topics of discourse, or indirectly, by patient attempts to enlarge and improve and elevate the minds of ...
— The Young Man's Guide • William A. Alcott

... the propriety of reducing our import duties upon fabrics which the American climate makes it practically imposssible to manufacture on our side of the water. Senator Sherman, who twenty years ago had the candour to admit that the wit of man could not devise a tariff so adjusted as to raise the revenue necessary for the Government which should not afford adequate incidental protection to all legitimate American industries, gave Sir John reason to hope that something might be done in the direction of a more liberal treatment of the linen industries. ...
— Ireland Under Coercion (2nd ed.) (2 of 2) (1888) • William Henry Hurlbert

... intimating strong doubts of our ship being the St Rose, complaining of the behaviour of the people in our pinnace, and desiring me to leave the coast. I returned an answer in as proper terms as I could devise, and next morning had another letter, couched in the utmost civility, but absolutely refusing me any refreshments, and demanding the restitution of the Indians said to have been made prisoners by our pinnace. In fact I knew less of our pinnace than he did, ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume X • Robert Kerr

... Robespierre's counsels. Shortly speaking, the object of the Billaudists was to retain their power, and their power was always menaced from two quarters, the Convention and Paris. If they let Robespierre have his own way against his enemies, would they not be at his mercy whenever he chose to devise a popular insurrection against them? Yet if they withstood Robespierre, they could only do so through the agency of the Convention, and to fall back upon the Convention would be to give that body an express invitation to resume the power that had, in the pressure of the crisis a year ...
— Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 1 of 3) - Essay 1: Robespierre • John Morley

... Protestant King Edward the Sixth was very sick. There would probably be disturbances in England, for he had set aside the devise of Henry the Eighth to his daughters Mary and Elizabeth, and had given the Crown to the heirs of the Lady Frances, the Duchess of Suffolk, she herself being passed over. The Lady Jane Grey was the eldest ...
— The Golden Grasshopper - A story of the days of Sir Thomas Gresham • W.H.G. Kingston

... all too well, and so an evil report be widely spread; for we have wrought a terrible deed and in nowise will it be to their liking, should they learn it. Such is our counsel now, but if any of you can devise a better plan let her rise, for it was on this account that ...
— The Argonautica • Apollonius Rhodius

... be charged, directly or indirectly, against any legacy or devise made according to law for the benefit of any institution or other body or any natural or corporate person whose property is exempt from taxation as hereinbefore mentioned in ...
— Civil Government of Virginia • William F. Fox

... Zack that night which had not either confirmed him in his resolution to possess himself of Valentine's Hair Bracelet, or helped to suggest to him the manner in which his determination to obtain it might be carried out. The first great necessity imposed on him by his present design, was to devise the means of secretly opening the painter's bureau; the second was to hit on some safe method—should no chance opportunity occur—of approaching it unobserved. Mat had remarked that Mr. Blyth wore the key of the bureau attached to his watch chain; and Mat had ...
— Hide and Seek • Wilkie Collins

... now inhabited by a keeper and his family. They had been visited by Cossacks, but had received no injury whatever; on the contrary the poor woman related with all the eloquence of Truth and the French animation that from their own soldiers they had suffered all that cruelty and rapacity could devise—indeed, the house and gardens bore evidence to the facts—window shutters pierced with bullets, broken doors, furniture gone, and above 800 francs' worth of honey destroyed out of pure wantonness—in short the ...
— Before and after Waterloo - Letters from Edward Stanley, sometime Bishop of Norwich (1802;1814;1814) • Edward Stanley

... herself had brought her into the fields this week for the first time during many months. After wearing and wasting her palpitating heart with every engine of regret that lonely inexperience could devise, common sense had illuminated her. She felt that she would do well to be useful again—to taste anew sweet independence at any price. The past was past; whatever it had been, it was no more at hand. Whatever its consequences, ...
— Tess of the d'Urbervilles - A Pure Woman • Thomas Hardy

... after a forty-mile march—a mule, frantic with thirst, broke away from his owner, and in a desperate attempt to get to the water, fell headlong down the well! A crowd of infuriated soldiers, with drag-ropes and everything that wit of man could devise, laboured for hours to get him out, while their comrades, equally infuriated, held anything up to a dozen animals apiece and made strenuous efforts to prevent them ...
— With Our Army in Palestine • Antony Bluett

... happened to the plot if the plan proposed to force the door with a crow-bar had been carried out? Since the dramatist was so daring as to cause it to be suggested, it was incumbent upon him at once to devise something to prevent it from being done. The way in which he has accomplished this through Balthazar, puts both Antipholus and his guest in an estimable light. Show its effect upon the present scene and upon both the character-interest and the scenes to ...
— Shakespeare Study Programs; The Comedies • Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke

... devise some new dish—"a conglomerate," as he used to say; but these generally turned out such atrocious compounds that he was ultimately induced to give up his attempts in extreme disgust—not forgetting, however, to point out to Jack that his failure ...
— The Coral Island • R.M. Ballantyne

... Polk Street, perturbed in spirit, because it seemed so difficult to come into genuine relations with the Italian women and because they themselves so often lost their hold upon their Americanized children. It seemed to me that Hull-House ought to be able to devise some educational enterprise which should build a bridge between European and American experiences in such wise as to give them both more meaning and a sense of relation. I meditated that perhaps the power to see life ...
— Twenty Years At Hull House • Jane Addams

... Merlin, "I will do all this." "Sir," said she, "I would not have you do it, but you shall teach me, and I will do it, and then it will be more to my mind." "I grant you this," said Merlin. Then he began to devise, and the damsel put it all in writing. And when he had devised the whole, then had the damsel full great joy, and showed him greater semblance of love than she had ever before made, and they sojourned together a long while. At length ...
— Bulfinch's Mythology • Thomas Bulfinch

... an ideal which is the best for all to pursue, I am far from maintaining. It may be so, or not; I have long known the idleness of advocating reform on a basis of personal predilection. Enough to set my own thoughts in order, without seeking to devise a new economy for the world. But it is much to see clearly from one's point of view, and therein the evil days I have treasured are of no little help to me. If my knowledge be only subjective, why, it only concerns myself; I preach to no one. Upon another man, of ...
— The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft • George Gissing

... true that it was only a class that had thought and spoke of this, but it was an educated class, turned loose with an idle brain and plenty of time to devise mischief. The toiling, unthinking masses went quietly to their labors, day by day, but the educated malcontents moved in and out among them, convincing them that they could not afford to see their men of brains ignored because ...
— Imperium in Imperio: A Study Of The Negro Race Problem - A Novel • Sutton E. Griggs

... the spell? He could not tell. He could not imagine. He could not imagine the thoughts of these men. He was sensible only of their hostility and utter want of sympathy. Vague possibilities of shame and violence chased one another across his mind. Could he devise some weapon? He recalled his assault upon the hypnotist, but there were no detachable lamps here. He could see nothing that he could catch up ...
— Tales of Space and Time • Herbert George Wells

... Lucifer, and would not bend her haughty head to be made Empress of Canada. One thing, however, caused her great uneasiness: her child, Alexander, was all the world to her, and she set her wits to work to devise some means of ...
— The Mysteries of Montreal - Being Recollections of a Female Physician • Charlotte Fuhrer

... employed in a public tennis-court, and there had learned the little mannerism to which he now had constant resort. In those days the necessity of freeing himself from the constant annoyance of nets to be tightened, or of disputes between rival claims to courts to be settled, had driven him to devise some means of escape. It was essential to the safety of his post, upon the other hand, that he must never allow it to be said that he was constantly absent from his duties. Chance gave him the very means he sought. ...
— Once Aboard The Lugger • Arthur Stuart-Menteth Hutchinson

... would be to devise means for favouring individuals who bore the signs of membership of a superior race, the proximate aim would be to ascertain what those signs were, and ...
— Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development • Francis Galton

... heard the rickshaw varlets Clear the road with raucous cries, Coolies clad in greens or scarlets, As a mistress may devise. ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156, June 4, 1919. • Various

... for alphabetic writing, for advances in metallurgy, for improvements in shipbuilding, and navigation, for much geographic knowledge, for exquisite dyes, and for the manufacture of glass. There can be no doubt that the Phoenicians were a people of great practical ability, with an intellect quick to devise means to ends, to scheme, contrive, and execute, and with a happy knack of perceiving what was practically valuable in the inventions of other nations, and of appropriating them to their own use, often with improvements upon the original idea. But they were not possessed ...
— History of Phoenicia • George Rawlinson

... asking him to watch for this necklace, and so we waited. At last we heard news. An amethyst which we do not doubt is ours came to the goldsmith to be put in a ring; but there was no necklace with it. I came here to see if I could do something, but I have been here for some time and can devise no plan. If she still possess the other part, to speak would be to cause its destruction, and how can I find out without asking if she still has by her the thing that would prove her crime? Do not be angry with me when I tell you this. Remember it was not I who presumed to suspect the wife ...
— A Dozen Ways Of Love • Lily Dougall

... this province. Insurrections against us have been often attempted."[15] In 1740 an insurrection under a slave, Cato, at Stono, caused such widespread alarm that a prohibitory duty of L100 was immediately laid.[16] Importation was again checked; but in 1751 the colony sought to devise a plan whereby the slightly restricted immigration of Negroes should provide a fund to encourage the importation of white servants, "to prevent the mischiefs that may be attended by the great importation of negroes into this Province."[17] Many white servants were thus ...
— The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America - 1638-1870 • W. E. B. Du Bois

... attempt to describe the behaviour of the grand old king. Joy and pride in his sons overcame his sorrow at their loss. On me he heaped every kindness that heart could devise or hand execute. He used to sit and question me, night after night, about everything that was in any way connected with them and their preparations. Our mode of life, and relation to each other, during the time we spent together, was a constant theme. He entered into the minutest details of the ...
— Phantastes - A Faerie Romance for Men and Women • George MacDonald

... hair requires, I ween, Something in the brilliantine Or else in the pomatum line. How shall we devise a balm Mr. SMILLIE'S locks to calm? ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, October 6, 1920 • Various

... back, full of the tidings that one of the children in the village had been badly burned. It occupied her very much—she made Ethel promise to go and see about her to-morrow, and sent Bellairs at once with every comfort that she could devise. ...
— The Daisy Chain, or Aspirations • Charlotte Yonge

... "Oh, Honesty!" said he, "you are ill-paid here. I have been well paid for my little bit of you, but here is a life of honesty and a life of ill-luck and bitter disappointment. Poor George! poor, dear George! Leave you? never while I have hands to work and a brain to devise!" ...
— It Is Never Too Late to Mend • Charles Reade

... despise and hate him! He would have torn her from his rival's arms, it was true, yet his own would still be empty. "Ah, Lisette, Lisette!" groaned the wretched man; and, swept to evil by the force of passion, he cudgelled his mind to devise some piece of trickery, some diabolical artifice, by which the incriminating token might be placed in the pastrycook's ...
— A Chair on The Boulevard • Leonard Merrick

... hair and clear eyes. He was very partial to Thomas, and during the young fellow's apprenticeship there, had treated him like a son. And he now let him return thither whenever it pleased him, and placed his appliances at his disposal. He knew that he was trying to devise a new motor, a question in which he himself was extremely interested; still he evinced the greatest discretion, never questioning Thomas, but awaiting ...
— The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete - Lourdes, Rome and Paris • Emile Zola

... torn down, and they themselves were outlawed. For ten years the fugitives were hunted in forest and cave. The victims were burned, were cast to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre—were put to death by every torture and in every mode that ingenious cruelty could devise. But nothing could shake the constancy of their faith. They courted the death that secured them, as they firmly believed, immediate entrance upon an existence of unending happiness. The exhibition of devotion and constancy shown by the martyrs won multitudes ...
— A General History for Colleges and High Schools • P. V. N. Myers

... stolen his will. Need I tell you that I am as innocent as you are? The thought of my mother is the bitterest drop in my cup of shame and sorrow. You can judge best, how much it may be expedient to tell her, and you can devise the kindest method of breaking the truth, if she must know it. Have her removed to the hospital, and do not postpone the operation. O Doctor! be pitiful, be tender to her, and do not let her need any ...
— At the Mercy of Tiberius • August Evans Wilson

... midnight a man made several attempts to enter the hut, but was prevented by Mr. Park and the negro, and the latter, on looking out, perceived it was the mansa himself. In the morning, Mr. Park, fearing the mansa might devise some means to detain him, departed before he was awake, the ...
— Lander's Travels - The Travels of Richard Lander into the Interior of Africa • Robert Huish

... mystery. Faraday always recommended the suspension of judgment in cases of doubt. "I have always admired," he says, "the prudence and philosophical reserve shown by M. Arago in resisting the temptations to give a theory of the effect he had discovered, so long as he could not devise one which was perfect in its application, and in refusing to assent to the imperfect theories of others." Now, however, the time for theory had come. Faraday saw mentally the rotating disk, under the ...
— Little Masterpieces of Science: - Invention and Discovery • Various

... the feelings I have referred to. And our object in requesting you to meet us this morning is that, believing you are the daughter—that your father is, in fact, her confidential adviser, in all pecuniary matters, we imagined that, by consulting with him, you might devise some mode in which our contribution could be made to appear the legal due which Miss Matilda Jenkyns ought to receive from— Probably your father, knowing her investments, can ...
— Cranford • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

... while the suits were pending before the council, he had displayed a calmness and moderation which surprised his opponents. "Knowing as I do," he pursues, "the cabals and intrigues that are rife here, I must expect that every thing will be said against me that the most artful slander can devise. A governor in this country would greatly deserve pity, if he were left without support; and, even should he make mistakes, it would surely be very pardonable, seeing that there is no snare that is not spread for him, and that, after avoiding a hundred of them, he will hardly ...
— Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV • Francis Parkman

... am not forgetting that an effective check on diplomacy is not easy to devise, and that high personal character and class disinterestedness (the latter at present unattainable) on the part of our diplomatists will be as vital as ever. I well know that diplomacy is carried on at present not only by official correspondence meant for possible publication and subject to an inspection ...
— New York Times, Current History, Vol 1, Issue 1 - From the Beginning to March, 1915 With Index • Various

... Tell foresaw, on the arrival of Gessler, many of the misfortunes which must inevitably follow his iron rule, and without explaining his views even to Arnold, of Melchthal, without needlessly alarming his family, endeavored to devise some means, not of bearing the yoke patiently, but of delivering his country from the galling oppression which Albert had brought upon it. The hero felt satisfied that the evil deeds of the governor would sooner or later bring just ...
— Ten Great Events in History • James Johonnot

... said his lordship, smiling, 'if my father thinks proper that you should manage his affairs, and devise expedients for him, I have nothing to say on that point; but I must beg you will not trouble yourself to suggest expedients for me, and that you will have the goodness to leave me to ...
— The Absentee • Maria Edgeworth



Words linked to "Devise" :   excogitate, spatchcock, law, sandwich, devisee, formulate, heritage, create mentally, organize, machinate, inheritance, initiate, pioneer, leave, forge, prepare, deviser, lay, set up, devisal, create by mental act, contrive, jurisprudence, embattle, put on, gift, get up, bequeath



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