verb (used with object), de·vised, de·vis·ing.
- to contrive, plan, or elaborate; invent from existing principles or ideas: to devise a method.
- Law. to assign or transmit (property) by will.
- Archaic. to imagine; suppose.
verb (used without object), de·vised, de·vis·ing.
- to form a plan; contrive.
noun
- Law.
- the act of disposing of property, especially real property, by will.
- a will or clause in a will disposing of property, especially real property.
- the property so disposed of.
verb
- to work out, contrive, or plan (something) in one’s mind
- (tr) law to dispose of (property, esp real property) by will
- (tr) obsolete to imagine or guess
noun law
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- a disposition of property by will
- the property so transmittedCompare bequeath (def. 1)
- a will or clause in a will disposing of real propertyCompare bequest (def. 2)
early 13c., “to form, fashion;” c.1300, “to plan, contrive,” from Old French deviser “dispose in portions, arrange, plan, contrive” (in modern French, “to chat, gossip”), from Vulgar Latin *divisare, frequentative of Latin dividere “to divide” (see divide). Modern sense is from “to arrange a division” (especially via a will), a meaning present in the Old French word. Related: Devised; devising.