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machine

noun
/məˈʃiːn/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *megʰ-der.? Doric Greek μηχᾰνή (mēkhănḗ) Doric Greek μᾱχᾰνᾱ́ (mākhănā́)bor. Latin māchinabor. Middle French machinebor. English machine Borrowed from Middle French machine, from Latin māchina (“a machine, engine, contrivance, device, stratagem, trick”), from Doric Greek μᾱχᾰνᾱ́ (mākhănā́), cognate with Attic Greek μηχᾰνή (mēkhănḗ, “a machine, engine, contrivance, device”), from which comes mechanical. Displaced native Old English searu.

  1. derived from μᾱχᾰνᾱ́
  2. derived from māchina
  3. borrowed from machine

Definitions

  1. A device that directs and controls energy, often in the form of movement or electricity,…

    A device that directs and controls energy, often in the form of movement or electricity, to produce a certain effect.

    • 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. A vehicle operated mechanically, such as an automobile or an airplane.

    • As the aviator turned his machine to reconnoitre in the new direction, he was surprised to see the hostile aeroplane between him and his objective.
    • "Joe, how soon will you be ready to roll?" Frank Hardy burst into the garage where his brother was working on a sleek, black-and-silver motorcycle. "Right now, if this machine kicks over," Joe replied, putting down a wrench.

  3. An answering machine or, by extension, voice mail.

    • I called you earlier, but all I got was the machine.
  4. ›+ 10 more definitions

    1. A computer.

      • Game developers assume they're pushing the limits of the machine.
      • He refuses to turn off his Linux machine.

    2. A person or organisation that seemingly acts like a machine, being particularly…

      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.

    3. Especially, the group that controls a political or similar organization

      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.

      • The whole machine of government, civil and religious, ought never to bear upon the people with a weight so oppressive

    4. Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced to perform some exploit.

      • I am apt to think, that the changing of the Trojan fleet into water-nymphs, which is the most violent machine in the whole Æneid[…]

    5. The system of special interest groups that supports a political party, especially in…

      The system of special interest groups that supports a political party, especially in urban areas.

      • A machine politician cannot see why the straight ticket (as he and his clique of party bosses prepare it) should not be voted by every citizen belonging to that party.
      • 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.
      • 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.

    6. Penis.

    7. A contrivance in the Ancient Greek theatre for indicating a change of scene, by means of…

      A contrivance in the Ancient Greek theatre for indicating a change of scene, by means of which a god might cross the stage or deliver a divine message; the deus ex machina.

    8. A bathing machine.

      • One Machine only was provided for Bathers, the Limitted smoothness of the sands not extending widely enough to admit another.

    9. To make by machinery.

    10. To shape or finish by machinery

      To shape or finish by machinery; (usually, more specifically) to shape subtractively by metal-cutting with machine-controlled toolpaths.

The neighborhood

Derived

accounting machine, adding machine, antimachine, arcwall machine, ATM machine, Atwood machine, Atwood's machine, automated machine learning, automated teller machine, automatic data processing machine, automatic teller machine, baby machine, ball machine, bank machine, biomachine, bookkeeping machine, bread machine, business machine, carding machine, cash machine, claw machine, coffee machine, compound machine, copy machine, cornucopia machine, dance machine, data processing machine, deflavorizing machine, deus ex machina, dictation machine, Ditto machine, drum machine, drying machine, DVD-R machine, dynamo-electric machine, Enigma machine, epsilon-machine, exercise machine, fax machine, femtomachine · +190 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at machine. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01machine02airplane03spoonful04spoon05ladle06molten07red-hot08glows09glow10emit

A definitional loop anchored at machine. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at machine

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA