mechanic

muh-KA-nik/mɪˈkænɪk/

9 meanings of mechanic

1
nouncountable
A person who fixes and takes care of machines, especially cars and engines.
Like a doctor, but for cars and machines instead of people.
The mechanic found a leak in the brake line.
We took the car to a mechanic after the engine made strange noises.
Similartechnician, repairman, engineer
2
nouncountable
A way of doing something, or the part that makes something work.
Like the handle that makes a door swing open.
Pulling the lever is the mechanic that opens the gate.
They needed a simple mechanic to move water from the well.
Similarmechanism, means, method, device, procedure
3
nouncountable
A rule or feature in a game that controls how you play.
Like the rules that tell you how to move pieces in a board game.
This card game introduces a clever bluffing mechanic.
The designers cut a mechanic that slowed the game down too much.
Similarfeature, system, rule
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4
nounslangcountable
A person who is paid to kill someone, in criminal slang.
The gang hired a mechanic to settle the score.
Police suspected a professional mechanic carried out the killing.
Similarhitman, assassin, killer, triggerman
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5
nouncountable
A person who cheats at card or dice games by secretly controlling them.
Like a magician's trick, but used to cheat at games for money.
The casino caught a mechanic switching dice at the craps table.
A skilled mechanic can deal himself a winning hand without anyone noticing.
Similarcardsharp, cheat, sharper, hustler
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6
nounhistoricalcountable
A person who works with their hands, such as a craftsman or laborer.
Like the workers who built things by hand long before factories existed.
The town's mechanics built the bridge stone by stone.
Her father was a mechanic who made fine furniture by hand.
Similarartisan, craftsman, tradesman, workman, laborer
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Less common meanings

7
adjectivearchaic
Having to do with machines, or with how things move in physics.
Like the rules that explain why a ball rolls downhill.
The old textbook described the mechanic laws that govern falling bodies.
Scholars once studied mechanic principles to explain the motion of the planets.
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8
adjectivearchaic
Done in an exact but lifeless way, as if by a machine.
Like a toy that repeats the same motion over and over.
Her mechanic reply showed she wasn't really listening.
But, for the unquiet heart and brain, ⁠A use in measured language lies; ⁠The sad mechanic exercise, Like dull narcotics, numbing pain.
1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In MemoriamHere, mechanic means done in an exact but lifeless way, like a machine.
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9
adjectiveobsolete
Coarse or low, like the rough manners once linked to common workers.
Mechanic slaves, With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers.
c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”Here, Mechanic means low and common, linked to rough workers.
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Practice

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Origin

It comes from a Greek word meaning "a machine" or "contrivance," through Latin and Old French into English.