CONTRIVANCE, noun [See Contrive.] 1. The act of inventing, devising or planning. There is no work impossible to these contrivances. 2. The thing invented or planned; a scheme; plan; disposition of parts or causes by design. Our bodies are made according to the most orderly contrivance 3. Artifice; plot; scheme. He has managed his contrivance well.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI