Machine

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /məˈʃiːn/

Origin

Borrowing from frm machine, from Latin machina ("a machine, engine, contrivance, device, stratagem, trick"), from Ancient Greek μαχανά, Doric Greek spelling of μηχανή (mēkhanē, "a machine, engine, contrivance, device").

Full definition of machine

Noun

1. A mechanical or electrical device that performs or assists in the performance of human tasks, whether physical or computational, laborious or for entertainment.
• 2013-06-01, A better waterworks, 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.
• LandorThe 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.
8. (euphemistic, obsolete) Penis.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Verb

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

Derived terms

• machinist

Anagrams

• Eichman