1. (n.) The act of finding out or inventing; contrivance or construction of that which has not before existed; as, the invention of logarithms; the invention of the art of printing.

2. (n.) That which is invented; an original contrivance or construction; a device; as, this fable was the invention of Esop; that falsehood was her own invention.

3. (n.) Thought; idea.

4. (n.) A fabrication to deceive; a fiction; a forgery; a falsehood.

5. (n.) The faculty of inventing; imaginative faculty; skill or ingenuity in contriving anything new; as, a man of invention.

6. (n.) The exercise of the imagination in selecting and treating a theme, or more commonly in contriving the arrangement of a piece, or the method of presenting its parts.

Nachtmusik absolute music adaptation air varie aleatory aleatory music apparition arrangement artifact authorship beginning brainchild breakthrough bringing to light bubble canard casual discovery catching chamber music chamber orchestra chance discovery child chimera coinage composition conception concoction contraption contrivance contriving creation creative effort creativeness creativity creature crowning achievement delirium descant detection determination determining development device devising disclosure discovery distillation distinguishment effect eidolon electronic music end product espial essence etude excavation exercise exhumation exposure extract extravaganza fable fabrication fake falsehood falsification fancy fantasque fantasy fecundity fertile mind fertility fib fiction figment find finding finding out forgery fruit gadget generation gizmo hallucination handiwork harmonization hatching idle fancy illusion imagery imagination imagining improvisation incidental music ingenuity innovation instrumental music insubstantial image introduction inventiveness issue leap lie locating location lucky strike maggot make-believe making do manufacture masterpiece masterwork mintage myth neologism new mintage new phase nocturne novelty offspring opera opus opuscule orchestration original originality origination outcome outgrowth phantasm phantom piece pregnant imagination prevarication product production productivity program music prolificacy recognition rediscovery result revelation ricercar romance score serendipity sham sick fancy sonata sonatina spotting story strike string orchestra string quartet study tale tall story tall tale teeming imagination theme and variations thick-coming fancies treasure trove trio trip trouvaille trove uncovering unearthing vapor variation vision whim whimsy wildest dreams work yarn