# factory

Pronunciation: US say "FAK-tur-ee" /ˈfæk.tɚ.i/; UK say "FAK-tuh-ree" /ˈfæk.tə.ɹi/

## Noun

1. A building or set of premises where goods are manufactured, usually with machinery and a workforce.
   - Simple: A building where workers and machines make things in large amounts.
   - _The new factory employs over two thousand workers across three shifts._
   - _Pollution from the factories along the river worried local residents._
3. The original condition of an electronic device, as it was when it left the manufacturer.
   - Simple: The original setup of a device, the way it was when it first came from the maker.
   - _Restoring the console to factory cleared all of his saved game data._
   - _Technicians returned the router to factory before reselling it._
4. A large-scale operation that raises livestock intensively by industrial methods.
   - Simple: A large farm that raises many animals at once using machines and tight, crowded spaces.
   - _The documentary went inside a poultry factory where thousands of birds were packed into sheds and never saw daylight._
   - _Campaigners want to ban the crowded cages common in animal factories._
5. Something that produces a steady or large supply of a particular thing, as a manufacturing plant does.
   - Simple: Something that makes or turns out a lot of one thing, like a machine or system does.
   - _The bone marrow acts as a factory for red blood cells._
   - _Critics called the studio a hit factory that churned out near-identical films._
6. A police station. *(slang, UK)*
   - Simple: A police station, where officers are based and people are held.
   - _They hauled the suspects back to the factory before dawn._
   - _He'd been questioned at the factory more times than he could count._

## Adjective

2. Being in the original condition supplied by the manufacturer; unmodified and stock. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Still the same as when it was made, not changed or swapped for new parts.
   - _Collectors pay more when the paint is factory rather than a respray._
   - _The dealer confirmed the exhaust system was factory and had never been replaced._

## Noun

7. The position or office of a factor, an agent who manages business or property on someone else's behalf. *(rare, Scotland)*
   - Simple: The job of being a factor, a person who looks after business or land for someone else.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A function or method that creates and returns objects, used within a program or code library.
- (noun) A trading station or depot, especially one run by foreign merchants in another country.

## Origin

Most likely "factor" with the suffix "-y" added. Other languages have parallel forms: Middle French factorie, Spanish factoría, Portuguese feitoria, and Dutch factorij.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/factory (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).