point-device

English

Alternative forms

• point-devise

Etymology

From Middle English poynt devise, from the Old French phrase *a point devise, with the participle taken as a noun; compare Old French a devis and Anglo-Norman en poynt devis.

Noun

point-device (uncountable)

1. (historical) A form of lace worked with devices.
2. (obsolete) Anything uncommonly precise and exact.
   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], lines 389-91:

     You are rather point-device in
     your accouterments, as loving yourself than seeming
     the lover of any other.