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Webster 1913 Edition

Machine

Ma-chine′

(mȧ-shēn′)
,
Noun.
[F., fr. L.
machina
machine, engine, device, trick, Gr.
μηχανή
, from
μῆχοσ
means, expedient. Cf.
Mechanic
.]
1.
In general, any combination of bodies so connected that their relative motions are constrained, and by means of which force and motion may be transmitted and modified, as a screw and its nut, or a lever arranged to turn about a fulcrum or a pulley about its pivot, etc.; especially, a construction, more or less complex, consisting of a combination of moving parts, or simple mechanical elements, as wheels, levers, cams, etc., with their supports and connecting framework, calculated to constitute a prime mover, or to receive force and motion from a prime mover or from another machine, and transmit, modify, and apply them to the production of some desired mechanical effect or work, as weaving by a loom, or the excitation of electricity by an electrical machine.
☞ The term machine is most commonly applied to such pieces of mechanism as are used in the industrial arts, for mechanically shaping, dressing, and combining materials for various purposes, as in the manufacture of cloth, etc. Where the effect is chemical, or other than mechanical, the contrivance is usually denominated an apparatus or device, not a machine; as, a bleaching apparatus. Many large, powerful, or specially important pieces of mechanism are called engines; as, a steam engine, fire engine, graduating engine, etc. Although there is no well-settled distinction between the terms engine and machine among practical men, there is a tendency to restrict the application of the former to contrivances in which the operating part is not distinct from the motor.
2.
Any mechanical contrivance, as the wooden horse with which the Greeks entered Troy; a coach; a bicycle.
Dryden.
Southey.
Thackeray.
3.
A person who acts mechanically or at the will of another.
4.
A combination of persons acting together for a common purpose, with the agencies which they use;
as, the social
machine
.
The whole
machine
of government ought not to bear upon the people with a weight so heavy and oppressive.
Landor.
5.
A political organization arranged and controlled by one or more leaders for selfish, private or partisan ends; the Tammany
machine
.
[Political Cant]
6.
Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced to perform some exploit.
Addison.
Elementary machine
,
a name sometimes given to one of the simple mechanical powers. See under
Mechanical
.
–
Infernal machine
.
See under
Infernal
.
–
Machine gun
.
See under
Gun.
–
Machine screw
,
a screw or bolt adapted for screwing into metal, in distinction from one which is designed especially to be screwed into wood.
–
Machine shop
,
a workshop where machines are made, or where metal is shaped by cutting, filing, turning, etc.
–
Machine tool
,
a machine for cutting or shaping wood, metal, etc., by means of a tool; especially, a machine, as a lathe, planer, drilling machine, etc., designed for a more or less general use in a machine shop, in distinction from a machine for producing a special article as in manufacturing.
–
Machine twist
,
silken thread especially adapted for use in a sewing machine.
–
Machine work
,
work done by a machine, in contradistinction to that done by hand labor.

Ma-chine′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Machined
(mȧ-shēnd′)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Machining
.]
To subject to the action of machinery; to make, cut, shape, or modify with a machine; to effect by aid of machinery; to print with a printing machine.

Webster 1828 Edition

Machine

MACHINE

,
Noun.
[L. machina.] An artificial work, simple or complicated, that serves to apply or regulate moving power, or to produce motion, so as to save time or force. The simple machines are the six mechanical powers, viz.; the lever, the pulley, the axis and wheel,the wedge, the screw, and the inclined plane. Complicated machines are such as combine two or more of these powers for the production of motion or force.
1.
An engine; an instrument of force.
With inward arms the dire machine they load.
2.
Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced into a poem to perform some exploit.

Definition 2024

machine

machine

See also: machinne and machiné

English

Noun

machine ‎(plural machines)

  1. A device that directs and controls energy, often in the form of movement or electricity, to produce a certain effect.
    • 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):
      An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.
  2. (archaic) A vehicle operated mechanically; an automobile.
  3. (telephony, abbreviation) An answering machine or, by extension, voice mail.
    I called you earlier, but all I got was the machine.‎
  4. (computing) A computer.
    Game developers assume they're pushing the limits of the machine.‎
  5. (figuratively) A person or organisation that seemingly acts like a machine, being particularly efficient, single-minded, or unemotional.
    Bruce Campbell was a "demon-killing machine" because he made quick work of killing demons.‎
    The government has become a money-making machine.‎
  6. Especially, the group that controls a political or similar organization; a combination of persons acting together for a common purpose, with the agencies which they use.
    • Landor
      The whole machine of government ought not to bear upon the people with a weight so heavy and oppressive.
  7. Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced to perform some exploit.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Addison to this entry?)
  8. (politics, chiefly US) The system of special interest groups that supports a political party, especially in urban areas.
    • 1902, The Friend
      A machine politican cannot see why the straight ticket (as be and his clique of party bosses prepare it) should not be voted by every citizen belonging to that party.
    • 2006, Jerry F. Hough, Changing Party Coalitions: The Mystery of the Red State-blue State Alignment, Algora Publishing (ISBN 9780875864082), page 37
      In essence, therefore, the right-fork strategy of the Democrats meant an alliance of the South with the political machines built on the non-Protestant immigrants in key Northeastern states.
    • 2013, Paul M. Green, Melvin G. Holli, The Mayors: The Chicago Political Tradition, fourth edition, SIU Press (ISBN 9780809331994), page 126
      He was thrust into a political maelstrom for which he was ill-prepared, and yet he was, most notably, the Chicago machine's political savior.
  9. (euphemistic, obsolete) ****.
    • 1749, John Cleland, Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, Part 3
      He now resumes his attempts in more form: first, he put one of the pillows under me, to give the blank of his aim a more favourable elevation, and another under my head, in ease of it; then spreading my thighs, and placing himself standing between them, made them rest upon his hips; applying then the point of his machine to the slit, into which he sought entrance.

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:machine

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

machine ‎(third-person singular simple present machines, present participle machining, simple past and past participle machined)

  1. to make by machinery.
  2. to shape or finish by machinery.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mɑˈʃinə/
  • Hyphenation: ma‧chi‧ne

Noun

machine f ‎(plural machines, diminutive machientje n or machinetje n)

  1. machine (mechanical or electrical device)

Derived terms

French

Etymology

From Latin machina ‎(“a machine, engine, contrivance, device, stratagem, trick”), from Ancient Greek μαχανά ‎(makhaná).

Pronunciation

Noun

machine f ‎(plural machines)

  1. machine, device (clarification of this French definition is being sought)
  2. (slang) very proficient person
    Ce type, c'est une vraie machine !

Related terms

Anagrams

Middle French

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin machina.

Noun

machine f (plural machines)

  1. machine; device

References

Etymology

Borrowing from Middle French machine, from Latin māchina ‎(“a machine, engine, contrivance, device, stratagem, trick”), from Ancient Greek μᾱχᾰνᾱ́ ‎(mākhanā́), Doric form of μηχᾰνή ‎(mēkhanḗ, “a machine, engine, contrivance, device”).

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /məˈʃiːn/

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