invention

The act or process of inventing.

A new device, method, or process developed from study and experimentation.

A mental fabrication, especially a falsehood.

Skill in inventing; inventiveness.

A short composition developing a single theme contrapuntally.

A discovery; a finding.

A finding. [Obsolete, or archaic, as in the phrase Invention of the Cross. See cross.]

The act or process of finding out how to make something previously unknown, or how to do something in a new way; original contrivance; creation by a new use of means: as, the invention of printing; the invention of the steamengine, or of an improved steam-engine.

That which is invented; something previously unknown, or some new modification of an existing thing, produced by an original use of means; an original contrivance or device. When used absolutely, it generally denotes a new mechanical device, or a new process in one of the useful arts.

Specifically, in music, a short piece in which a single thought is worked out, usually contrapuntally, but with the comparative simplicity of an impromptu or of a study.