Chapter Inveigher to Investiture of I by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

1. The act of finding out or inventing; contrivance or construction of that which has not before existed; as, the invention of logarithms; the invention of the art of printing.

As the search of it [truth] is the duty, so the invention will be the happiness of man.

Tatham.

2. That which is invented; an original contrivance or construction; a device; as, this fable was the invention of Esop; that falsehood was her own invention.

We entered by the drawbridge, which has an invention to let one fall if not premonished.

Evelyn.

3. Thought; idea. Shak.

4. A fabrication to deceive; a fiction; a forgery; a falsehood.

Filling their hearers
With strange invention.

Shak.

5. The faculty of inventing; imaginative faculty; skill or ingenuity in contriving anything new; as, a man of invention.

They lay no less than a want of invention to his charge; a capital crime, . . . for a poet is a maker.

Dryden.

6. (Fine Arts, Rhet., etc.) The exercise of the imagination in selecting and treating a theme, or more commonly in contriving the arrangement of a piece, or the method of presenting its parts.

Invention of the cross (Eccl.), a festival celebrated May 3d, in honor of the finding of our Savior's cross by St. Helena.

Inventious
(In*ven"tious) a. Inventive. [Obs.]

Inventive
(In*vent"ive) a. [Cf. F. inventif.] Able and apt to invent; quick at contrivance; ready at expedients; as, an inventive head or genius. Dryden. — In*vent"ive*ly, adv. — In*vent"ive*ness, n.

Inventor
(In*vent"or) n. [L.: cf. F. inventeur.] One who invents or finds out something new; a contriver; especially, one who invents mechanical devices.

Inventorial
(In`ven*to"ri*al) a. Of or pertaining to an inventory. — In`ven*to"ri*al*ly, adv. Shak.

Inventory
(In"ven*to*ry) n.; pl. Inventories [L. inventarium: cf. LL. inventorium, F. inventaire, OF. also inventoire. See Invent.] An account, catalogue, or schedule, made by an executor or administrator, of all the goods and chattels, and sometimes of the real estate, of a deceased person; a list of the property of which a person or estate is found to be possessed; hence, an itemized list of goods or valuables, with their estimated worth; specifically, the annual account of stock taken in any business.

There take an inventory of all I have.

Shak.

Syn. — List; register; schedule; catalogue. See List.

Inventory
(In"ven*to*ry), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Inventoried ; p. pr. & vb. n. Inventorying.] [Cf. F. inventorier.] To make an inventory of; to make a list, catalogue, or schedule of; to insert or register in an account of goods; as, a merchant inventories his stock.

I will give out divers schedules of my beauty; it shall be inventoried, and every particle and utensil labeled.

Shak.

Inventress
(In*vent"ress) n. [Cf. L. inventrix, F. inventrice.] A woman who invents. Dryden.

Inveracity
(In`ve*rac"i*ty) n. Want of veracity.