Artifice
Artifice ({not transcribed}) , noun
[Latin artificium, from artifex artificer; ars, artis, art + facere to make: compare French artifice.]
1.
A handicraft; a trade; art of making. [Obsolete]
2.
Workmanship; a skillfully contrived work.
The material universe... in the artifice of God, the artifice of the best Mechanist.
3.
Artful or skillful contrivance.
His [Congreve's] plots were constructed without much artifice.
[Now the usual meaning.]
4.
Crafty device; an artful, ingenious, or elaborate trick. [Now the usual meaning.]
Those who were conscious of guilt employed numerous artifices for the purpose of averting inquiry.