deviceful

English

Etymology

From device +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈvaɪsfəl/

Adjective

deviceful (comparative more deviceful, superlative most deviceful)

1. (now rare) Full of devices; inventive.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     To tell the glorie of the feast that day, / The goodly service, the deviceful sights, / […] Were worke fit for an Heraud, not for me […]

   • 1614–1615, Homer, “(please specify the book number)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume (please specify the book number), London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC:

     A carpet, rich, and of deviceful thread.

     The spelling has been modernized.

Derived terms

• devicefully
• devicefulness