point-devise

point-devise

1. Alternative form of point-device.

point-devise (comparative more point-devise, superlative most point-devise)

1. (obsolete) Particular; precise; finicky.
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 136, column 1:

     I abhor ſuch phanaticall phantaſms, ſuch inſociable and poynt deuiſe companions, […]

   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     You are rather point-devise in your accoutrements.

   • 1873 August, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “[I. Tales of a Wayside Inn.] The Student’s Tale. Emma and Eginhard.”, in Aftermath, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 23:

     Thus he grew up, in Logic point-device, / Perfect in Grammar, and in Rhetoric nice; […]

• “point-devise”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.