devisal

English

Etymology

devise +‎ -al

Noun

devisal (countable and uncountable, plural devisals)

1. An act of devising.
   • 19th century, Francis Thompson, To a Snow-flake

     What heart could have thought you?—

     Past our devisal

     (O filigree petal!)

   • 1875, William Dwight Whitney, The Life and Growth of Language: An Outline of Linguistic Science:

     Each word may be not unfitly compared to an invention; it has its own place, mode, and circumstances of devisal, its preparation in the previous habits of speech […]

Anagrams

• Desilva