Artifice

Ar·ti·fice

Artifice

n.
  1. A handicraft; a trade; art of making. [Obs.]
  2. Workmanship; a skillfully contrived work.
    The material universe . . . in the artifice of God, the artifice of the best Mechanist.
    — Cudworth.
  3. Artful or skillful contrivance.
    His [Congreve's] plots were constructed without much artifice.
    — Craik.
  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.