Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Contrive

Contrive (kon*trīv") , transitive verb

[Old English contriven, contreven, controven, to invent, Old French controver, contruver; con- + trouver to find. See Troubadour, trover.]

To form by an exercise of ingenuity; to devise; to invent; to design; to plan.
What more likely to contrive this admirable frame of the universe than infinite wisdom. — Tillotson
neither do thou imagine that I shall contrive aught against his life. — Hawthorne

Contrive , intransitive verb

To make devices; to form designs; to plan; to scheme; to plot.
The Fates with traitors do contrive. — Shakespeare
Thou hast contrived against th very life Of the defendant. — Shakespeare