# machine

Pronunciation: say "muh-SHEEN" /məˈʃiːn/

## Noun

1. A device that directs and controls energy, often as movement or electricity, to produce a particular effect.
   - Simple: A piece of equipment that uses power to do a job, like washing clothes or cutting wood.
   - _Every machine in the plant runs on electricity from the new solar array._
   - _A simple lever is one of the oldest machines humans ever built._
2. A computer.
   - Simple: A computer: for example, a laptop or a desktop.
   - _The build failed on my machine but passed on the test server._
   - _My old machine takes forever to start up, so I'm finally buying a new laptop._
3. A person or organization that acts with relentless efficiency, single-minded focus, or a lack of emotion.
   - Simple: A person or group that works very well and very hard, never losing focus or showing feelings, like a robot.
   - _On the court she was a machine, sinking shot after shot without a flicker of emotion._
   - _By its third year, the startup had become a machine, shipping new features every week._
4. The group that controls a political or similar organization; people acting together for a common purpose, along with the methods and resources they use.
   - Simple: A group of people who control an organization and work together to get what they want.
   - _No reform passed the council without the county machine's approval._
   - _The union's machine controlled hiring at every dock in the harbor._
7. A telephone answering machine or, by extension, a voice mail service.
   - Simple: A device or service that records phone messages when no one answers.
   - _She let the machine pick up so she could screen her calls._
   - _His machine was full, so I couldn't leave a message._

## Verb

5. To make, shape, or finish something using machinery, especially by cutting metal with machine tools.
   - Simple: To make or shape something, usually metal, using machines.
   - _Technicians machine each rough casting until the surfaces are perfectly smooth._
   - _The valve seats were machined to a tolerance of two thousandths of an inch._

## Noun

6. A mechanically operated vehicle, such as an automobile or an airplane. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A vehicle with an engine, such as a car or an airplane.
   - _He cranked the machine's engine and set off down the dusty road._
   - _The aviator's machine circled the field twice before landing._
8. A wheeled changing hut drawn into shallow water so that sea bathers could undress and enter the water privately; short for bathing machine. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A hut on wheels that was rolled into the sea so people long ago could change clothes and swim in private.
9. A euphemistic, indirect term for the penis. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: An indirect, polite-sounding word for the penis, used long ago.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A crane in the ancient Greek theater used to lift or lower an actor, especially one playing a god, above the stage.
- (noun) In a poem, supernatural intervention, or a superhuman being brought into the story to accomplish some feat.

## Origin

Doric Greek mākhănā́, a cognate of Attic Greek mēkhănḗ (which gave us "mechanical"), passed into Latin as māchina ("a machine, engine, contrivance, device, or trick"). English borrowed it from Middle French machine, and it replaced the native Old English word searu.

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