device: [13] A device is something which has been devised – which, etymologically speaking, amounts to ‘something which has been divided’. For ultimately devise and divide come from the same source. The noun device comes in the first instance from Old French devis ‘division, contrivance’ and latterly (in the 15th century) from Old French devise ‘plan’, both of which were derivatives of the verb deviser ‘divide, devise’ (source of English devise [13]).
This in turn came from Vulgar Latin *dīvisāre, a verb based on the past participial stem of Latin dīvidere, source of English divide. The semantic development by which ‘divide’ passed to ‘contrive’, presumably based on the notion that dividing something up and distributing it needs some planning, happened before the word reached English, and English device has never meant ‘division’.
The sense ‘simple machine’ essentially evolved in the 16th century. => devise, divide, individual, widow
device (n.)
late 13c., from Old French devis "division, separation, disposition, wish, desire; coat of arms, emblem; last will," from deviser "to divide, distribute" (see devise). Sense of "method by which something is divided" arose in French and led to modern meaning.
雙語例句
1. The device had been used operationally some months previously.
該設備幾個月之前曾投入運行。
來自柯林斯例句
2. The device exploded, throwing Mr Taylor from his car.
那個裝置爆炸了，把泰勒先生從車里拋了出去。
來自柯林斯例句
3. The device can discriminate between the cancerous and the normal cells.
這臺儀器可以辨別癌細胞和正常的細胞。
來自柯林斯例句
4. The built-in safety device compensates for a fall in water pressure.
該內置式安全裝置在水壓下降時能提供保護。
來自柯林斯例句
5. The device plugs into one of the laptop's USB ports.