Device and Sample

noun

• An instrumentality invented for a particular purpose.
  • usage: "the device is small enough to wear on your wrist"; "a device intended to conserve water"
• Something in an artistic work designed to achieve a particular effect.
• Any clever maneuver.
  • usage: "he would stoop to any device to win a point"; "it was a great sales gimmick"; "a cheap promotions gimmick for greedy businessmen"
  • synonyms: gimmick, twist
• Any ornamental pattern or design (as in embroidery. )
• An emblematic design (especially in heraldry. )
  • usage: "he was recognized by the device on his shield"

• (n.) Anything fancifully conceived.
• (n.) Opinion; decision.
• (n.) That which is devised or formed by design; a contrivance; an invention; a project; a scheme; often, a scheme to deceive; a stratagem; an artifice.
• (n.) Improperly, an heraldic bearing.
• (n.) An emblematic design, generally consisting of one or more figures with a motto, used apart from heraldic bearings to denote the historical situation, the ambition or the desire of the person adopting it. See Cognizance.
• (n.) A spectacle or show.
• (n.) Power of devising; invention; contrivance.

noun

• A small part of something intended as representative of the whole.
• Items selected at random from a population and used to test hypotheses about the population.
  • synonyms: sample distribution, sampling
• All or part of a natural object that is collected and preserved as an example of its class.

verb

• Take a sample of.
  • usage: "Try these new crackers"; "Sample the regional dishes"
  • synonyms: try, try out, taste

• (n.) Example; pattern.
• (v.t.) To make or show something similar to; to match.
• (v.t.) To take or to test a sample or samples of; as, to sample sugar, teas, wools, cloths.
• (n.) A part of anything presented for inspection or shown as evidence of the quality of the whole; a specimen; as, goods are often purchased by samples.