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A contrivance to fasten logs together in rafting; -- used by lumbermen. [U.S.]

A game of chance, played with cards, on which are inscribed numbers, and any contrivance (as a wheel containing numbered balls) for determining a set of numbers by chance. The player holding a card having on it the set of numbers drawn from the wheel takes the stakes after a certain percentage of them has been deducted…

A contrivance, as an oil cup, for supplying a lubricant to machinery.

A contrivance somewhat resembling a bird, and often baited with raw meat; -- used by falconers in recalling hawks. Shak.

Any mechanical contrivance, as the wooden horse with which the Greeks entered Troy; a coach; a bicycle. Dryden. Southey. Thackeray.

or fictitious work is carried on and brought to a catastrophe; in an extended sense, the contrivances by which the crises and conclusion of a fictitious narrative, in prose or verse, are effected. The machinery, madam, is a term invented by the critics, to signify that part which the deities, angels, or demons, are ma…

like poles adjacent, so as to act together with great power. -- Magnetic compensator, a contrivance connected with a ship's compass for compensating or neutralizing the effect of the iron of the ship upon the needle. -- Magnetic curves, curves indicating lines of magnetic force, as in the arrangement of iron filings…

A contrivance of interlinked rings, for rubbing off the loose hemp on lines and white cordage.

as sheets, tablecloths, napkins, and clothing, by roller pressure. Mangle rack (Mach.), a contrivance for converting continuous circular motion into reciprocating rectilinear motion, by means of a rack and pinion, as in the mangle. The pinion is held to the rack by a groove in such a manner that it passes alternately f…

A contrivance or maneuvering to catch game illegally.

or in combination. -- Mechanical solution (Math.), a solution of a problem by any art or contrivance not strictly geometrical, as by means of the ruler and compasses, or other instruments.

A contrivance for preserving a record of music, by recording the action of the keys of a musical instrument when played upon.

Memory. Memoria technica, technical memory; a contrivance for aiding the memory.

Any revolving contrivance for affording amusement; esp., a ring of flying hobbyhorses.

To change somewhat the form or qualities of; to alter somewhat; as, to modify a contrivance adapted to some mechanical purpose; to modify the terms of a contract.

nto nine spaces, and containing the numbers of a column of the multiplication table; -- a contrivance of Baron Napier, the inventor of logarithms, for facilitating the operations of multiplication and division.

A projecting contrivance at the side of a boat to prevent upsetting, as projecting spars with a log at the end.

A contrivance for causing a current of air to impinge on the flame of the Argand lamp; -- called also oxygenator.

A contrivance, as a band, pin, snap, or the like, to hold the skirt of a woman's dress from the ground.

A contrivance somewhat in the form of an umbrella, by means of which a descent may be made from a balloon, or any eminence.