Word: machine Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *megʰ-der.? Ancient 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. Pronunciation: /məˈʃiːn/, /məˈʃin/ 1. A device that directs and controls energy, often in the form of movement or electricity, to produce a certain effect. Example: 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. Labels: dated Example: As he stood directly beneath a brilliant arc light, waiting for a limousine that was approaching to pass him, he heard his name called in a sweet feminine voice. Looking up, he met the smiling eyes of Olga de Coude as she leaned forward upon the back seat of the machine. He bowed very low in response to her friendly greeting. When he straightened up the machine had borne her away. Example: 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. 3. An answering machine or, by extension, voice mail. Labels: abbreviation Example: I called you earlier, but all I got was the machine. 4. A computer. Example: Game developers assume they're pushing the limits of the machine. Example: He refuses to turn off his Linux machine. 5. A person or organisation that seemingly acts like a machine, being particularly efficient, single-minded, or unemotional. Labels: figuratively Example: Bruce Campbell was a "demon-killing machine" because he made quick work of killing demons. Example: 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. Example: The whole machine of government, civil and religious, ought never to bear upon the people with a weight so oppressive 7. Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced to perform some exploit. Example: 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[…] 8. The system of special interest groups that supports a political party, especially in urban areas. Labels: US Example: 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. Example: 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. 9. Penis. Labels: euphemistic, obsolete Example: 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; 10. 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. Labels: historical 11. A bathing machine. Labels: obsolete Example: One Machine only was provided for Bathers, the Limitted smoothness of the sands not extending widely enough to admit another.