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The act of wandering; deviation, especially from truth or moral rectitude, from the natural state, or from a type. "The aberration of youth." Hall. "Aberrations from theory." Burke.

Legally qualified; possessed of legal competence; as, able to inherit or devise property.

Not conformed to rule or system; deviating from the type; anomalous; irregular. "That deviating from the type; anomalous; irregular. " Froude.

Dress; trappings; equipment; specifically, the devices and equipments worn by soldiers. How gay with all the accouterments of war!

To revolve in the mind, or view in all its aspects; to contrive busily; to devise; to plot; as, politicians agitate desperate designs.

A hook, eyelet, or other device by which a piano wire is so held as to limit the vibration.

Any device, as a balloon, aëroplane, etc., for floating in, or flying through, the air.

oops for attacking an enemy unexpectedly from a concealed station. Hence: Unseen peril; a device to entrap; a snare. Heaven, whose high walls fear no assault or siege Or ambush from the deep. Milton.

One of a class of "fallen angels;" an evil spirit; as, the devil and his angels.

An anomaly; a deviation from rule. Hooker.

Deviating from a general rule, method, or analogy; abnormal; irregular; as, an anomalous proceeding.

Deviation from the common rule; an irregularity; anything anomalous. We are enabled to unite into a consistent whole the various anomalies and contending principles that are found in the minds and affairs of men. Burke. As Professor Owen has remarked, there is no greater anomaly in nature than a bird that can not fly.…

One who goes before; a predecessor. The successor seldom prosecuting his antecessor's devices. Sir E. Sandys.

An odd imagery, device, or tracery; a fantastic figure. Woven with antics and wild imagery. Spenser.

Deviating from the proper order of time. -- An`ti*chron"ic*al*ly, adv.

Deviation from the true order of time; anachronism. [R.] Selden.

A device, one form of which consists of a scratched deposit of silver on glass, used in connection with the receiving apparatus for reading wireless signals. The electric waves falling on this contrivance increase its resistance several times. The anticoherer can be used in conjunction with a telephone.…

Anything provided as a substitute; a makeshift. He goes to work devising apologies for window curtains. Dickens.

The thing applied or used as a means to an end; an apparatus or device; as, to use various appliances; a mechanical appliance; a machine with its appliances.

steel bow set in a shaft of wood, furnished with a string and a trigger, and a mechanical device for bending the bow. It served to throw arrows, darts, bullets, etc. [Written also arbalet and arblast.] Fosbroke.