4 uses
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Definition
to come up with a way of doing something — typically a creative idea or plan
- I wouldn't put it past him to have devised a way to blast the sainted Mary Magdalene off her pedestal—I'm sure he could have muffled the explosion so skillfully that the nuns would have slept right through it.p. 408.9
- I didn't know how to tell him that I thought he'd have a terrible time with my cousins—that if we picked him up and passed him over our heads in Sunday school, it was frightening to imagine what games my cousins might devise to play with Owen Meany.p. 63.1
- My cousins were both small-towners and outsiders; they had' not grown up with Owen Meany, who was so strange to them that he inspired awe—yet they were no more likely to fall upon him, or to devise ways to torture him, than it was likely for a herd of cattle to attack a cat.p. 73.3
- He would devise an approach to the basket; dribbling at good speed, he would time his leap to coincide with a teammate's readiness to lift him higher—he would jump into a teammate's waiting arms, and the teammate would (occasionally) boost Owen above the basket's rim.p. 308.5
There are no more uses of "devise" in A Prayer for Owen Meany.
Typical Usage
(best examples)