English

Noun

contraption ‎(plural contraptions)

1. A machine that is complicated and precarious.
2. (figuratively, derogatory or ironic) Any object.
   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “chapter XII”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855:

     “Yes, sir, if that was the language of love, I'll eat my hat,” said the blood relation, alluding, I took it, to the beastly straw contraption in which she does her gardening, concerning which I can only say that it is almost as foul as Uncle Tom's Sherlock Holmes deerstalker, which has frightened more crows than any other lid in Worcestershire.

Synonyms

• (mechanical device): contrivance, device, fandango, gadget, mechanism

References

1. ↑ Chambers Dictionary, Edinburgh, 1998, s.v.

Translations