Crossword clues for contraption
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Contraption \Con*trap"tion\, n. A contrivance; a new-fangled device; -- used scornfully. [Colloq. or Dial.] -- Con*trap"tious, a.
We all remember some of the extraordinary contraptions
which have been thus evolved and put upon the market.
--F. M. Ware.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1825, western England dialect, origin obscure, perhaps from con(trive) + trap, or deception.
Wiktionary
n. 1 A machine that is complicated and precarious. 2 (context figuratively derogatory or ironic English) Any object.
WordNet
n. a device that is very useful for a particular job [syn: appliance, contrivance, convenience, gadget, gizmo, gismo, widget]
Wikipedia
Contraption may refer to:
- a contraption; a machine, device or gadget
- Contraption, a British electronica band
- Contraption, a German Heavy metal music band
- Contraption (game show), a game show formerly broadcast on the Disney Channel
- Circus Contraption, a one-ring circus, vaudeville and dark cabaret troupe based in Seattle, Washington
- " Zanzibar / Fatal Contraption", a 1995 episode of the television show Rocko's Modern Life
Contraption is an American game show and one of the original programs on the Disney Channel, which ran from April 18, 1983 to January 9, 1988 and again from March 8 to October 25, 1989. The show was hosted by actor/comedian Ralph Harris and announced by Miranda Fredricks.
Usage examples of "contraption".
As the Dutch astrophysicist began crawling around and underneath the contraption, Nash went to help Kawakami fold up the discarded shrouds.
The contraption came off, and he handed it to Veronica, then set about rubbing his browridge, as if trying to restore whatever circulation might normally be there.
At its heart was a dark space about big enough for a human face to cover, and on either side of that a couple of queer contraptions against which fingers could be pressed.
May 31, a CIA plane with a strange forklike contraption on the nose set out to retrieve Smith and LeSchack.
Finally they lay in a row on the table, cube, abacus, doll, helmetlike cap, several other mysterious contraptions.
Finally they lay in a row on the table: cube, abacus, doll, helmetlike cap, several other mysterious contraptions.
Small ships, with comparatively little top-hamper in the way of radar: they had the three Soviet types of radar known to NATO as Hawk Screech, Slim Net and Don, but the aerials were unobtrusive, nothing like the contraptions on bigger ships.
The cat-piano player hoisted his trousers and a leglike contraption of wood, metal and plastic appeared.
I gawk at the wiretaps, laptop, printer, code busters, phone phreaking equipment, and lots of other jury-rigged contraptions and punch-pads made from parts that must have once belonged to Pacific Bell.
HF output stage arranged around the perimeter of a crazy pentacle surrounding the procrustean contraption.
The object that had just landed, a large white sphere, had extended a pair of strange, scissorlike contraptions from its midsection, and was cutting itself out of a multilayered bag that had obviously cushioned its impact on the surface.
He was called the evap watchkeeper because his duties were largely concerned with the evaporators, huge white-lagged contraptions on each side of the compartment.
There was hardly any furniture: just the chair, and a contraption in the corner like a trunk, but with a bedframe for the lid.
The contraption reminded Langdon of some sort of cartoon ray gun-a wide cannonlike barrel with a sighting scope on top and a tangle of electronics dangling below.
Big Scaly settled back down aimed some kind of handheld contraption that holovid camera at him.