Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

machine

Pronunciation: /məˈʃiːn/

Translate machine | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of machine

noun

  • an apparatus using mechanical power and having several parts, each with a definite function and together performing a particular task:a fax machine
  • [with modifier] a coin-operated dispenser:a cigarette machine
  • technical any device that transmits a force or directs its application.
  • an efficient and well-organized group of powerful people:the party’s fund-raising is helping it to build a formidable political machine

verb

[with object]
  • make or operate on with a machine: (as adjective machined)a decoratively machined brass rod

Origin:

mid 16th century (originally denoting a structure): from French, via Latin from Doric Greek makhana (Greek mēkhanē, from mēkhos 'contrivance')

machine in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of machine in the US English dictionary