Other forms: contraptions
A contraption is a device that looks awkward and improvised. Wires, tape, and something that ought not to work.
The word is affectionate and faintly comic, and it always doubts the thing it names, so calling something a contraption means you are not sure who made it or why. It suits homemade machines and elaborate gadgets equally. Its close relatives are contrivance, which is more formal, and gizmo and gadget, which are smaller and slicker. The origin is uncertain and probably a blend of contrivance and trap.
1nouncontraptionAn awkward or oddly improvised machine or device.
“He had built some contraption for watering the greenhouse.”
Possibly a Western US English dialectal word of unknown origin. early 19th century. Perhaps from contrive + trap + -tion, while also possibly approximating construction. Chambers suggests contrivance + adaption. Neither Chambers nor Concise Oxford suggests a US origin. Compare cantrip, cantrap (Scots dialect), a wilful piece of trickery.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA