Contrivance \Con*triv"ance\, n.

1. The act or faculty of contriving, inventing, devising, or planning.

The machine which we are inspecting demonstrates, by its construction, contrivance and design. Contrivance must have had a contriver. --Paley.

2. The thing contrived, invented, or planned; disposition of parts or causes by design; a scheme; plan; atrifice; arrangement.

Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. --Burke.

Syn: Device; plan; scheme; invention; machine; project; design; artifice; shift. See Device.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)