Machine

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Machine \Ma*chine"\ (m[.a]*sh[=e]n"), n. [F., fr. L. machina
     machine, engine, device, trick, Gr. mhchanh`, from mh^chos
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: 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.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Any mechanical contrivance, as the wooden horse with which
        the Greeks entered Troy; a coach; a bicycle. --Dryden.
        --Southey. --Thackeray.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A person who acts mechanically or at the will of another.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. A combination of persons acting together for a common
        purpose, with the agencies which they use; as, the social
        machine.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The whole machine of government ought not to bear
              upon the people with a weight so heavy and
              oppressive.                           --Landor.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. A political organization arranged and controlled by one or
        more leaders for selfish, private or partisan ends; the
        Tammany machine. [Political Cant]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being
        introduced to perform some exploit. --Addison.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {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.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Machine \Ma*chine"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Machined}
     (m[.a]*sh[=e]nd"); 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.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  machine
       n 1: any mechanical or electrical device that transmits or
            modifies energy to perform or assist in the performance
            of human tasks
       2: an intricate organization that accomplishes its goals
          efficiently; "the war machine"
       3: an efficient person; "the boxer was a magnificent fighting
          machine"
       4: 4-wheeled motor vehicle; usually propelled by an internal
          combustion engine; "he needs a car to get to work" [syn: {car},
           {auto}, {automobile}, {motorcar}]
       5: a group that controls the activities of a political party;
          "he was endorsed by the Democratic machine" [syn: {political
          machine}]
       6: a device for overcoming resistance at one point by applying
          force at some other point [syn: {simple machine}]
       v 1: turn, shape, mold, or otherwise finish by machinery
       2: make by machinery; "The Americans were machining while
          others still hand-made cars"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  186 Moby Thesaurus words for "machine":
     American Party, Anti-Monopoly Party, Bull Moose Party, Bund,
     Communist Party, Composaline, Conservative Party,
     Constitutional Union Party, Democratic Party,
     Democratic-Republican Party, Diatype, Ditto, Elrod,
     Farmer-Labor Party, Federalist Party, Fotomatic, Fotosetter,
     Fototronic, Free Soil Party, Greenback Party, Intertype,
     Know-Nothing Party, Labour Party, Liberal Party,
     Liberal Republican Party, Liberty Party, Linotype, Monotype,
     Multigraph, National Republican Party, Photon, Populist Party,
     Progressive Party, Prohibition Party, Republican Party,
     Rochdale cooperative, Socialist Labor Party, Socialist Party,
     Socialist Workers Party, Tammany Hall, Teletype, Tory Party,
     Whig Party, Zip, addressing machine, alembic, alliance, anvil,
     apparatus, appliance, assemblage, association, auto, autocar,
     automaton, automobile, axis, band, bloc, boat, body, buggy, bus,
     cabal, caldron, camp, car, carve, chisel, city hall, clique,
     coalition, college, combination, combine, common market,
     confederacy, confederation, consumer cooperative, contraption,
     contrivance, convenience, convert, cooperative,
     cooperative society, corps, council, crate, credit union, crucible,
     cultivate, customs union, device, drive, duplicator,
     economic community, engine, enginery, extract, facility, faction,
     federation, fixture, free trade area, gadget, gang, gizmo, golem,
     group, grouping, grow, harvest, heap, hectograph, implement,
     instrument, jalopy, lathe, league, machinery, major party, make,
     manufacture, mechanical aid, mechanical device, mechanism,
     mechanize, melting pot, mill, mimeograph, mine, minor party, mob,
     mortar, motive power, motor, motor vehicle, motorcar, motorize,
     motorized vehicle, multiple party system, one-party system,
     opposition party, organization, partnership, party, party in power,
     phototypesetter, political machine, political party, power plant,
     power source, prime mover, process, pump, raise, rear, refine,
     retool, retort, ring, shape, sharpen, smelt, society,
     splinter party, stock ticker, system, teleprinter, teletypewriter,
     test tube, third party, ticker, tool, transducer, transformer, tub,
     two-party system, typewriter, union, utensil, utility, vehicle,
     voiture, wheels, wreck
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  machine
       
          Common term for "computer", usually when considered at the
          hardware level.  The {Turing Machine}, an early example of
          this usage, was however neither hardware nor software, but
          only an idea.
       
          [Earlier use?]
       
          (1995-02-15)
       
       

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  MACHINE. A contrivance which serves to apply or regulate moving power; or it 
  is a tool more or less complicated, which is used to render useful natural 
  instruments, Clef. des Lois Rom. h.t. 
       2. The act of congress gives to inventors the right to obtain a patent 
  right for any new and useful improvement on any art, machine, manufacture, 
  &c. Act of congress, July 4, 1836, s. 6. See Pet. C. C. 394; 3 Wash. C. C. 
  443; 1 Wash. C. C. 108; 1 Wash. C. C. 168; 1 Mason, 447; Paine, 300; 4 Wash. 
  C. C. 538; 1 How. U. S., 202; S. C. 17 Pet. 228; 2 McLean, 176.