Machinery

Machinery
Machinery Ma*chin"er*y, n. [From {Machine}: cf. F. machinerie.] 1. Machines, in general, or collectively. [1913 Webster]

2. The working parts of a machine, engine, or instrument; as, the machinery of a watch. [1913 Webster]

3. The supernatural means by which the action of a poetic or fictitious work is carried on and brought to a catastrophe; in an extended sense, the contrivances by which the crises and conclusion of a fictitious narrative, in prose or verse, are effected. [1913 Webster]

The machinery, madam, is a term invented by the critics, to signify that part which the deities, angels, or demons, are made to act in a poem. --Pope. [1913 Webster]

4. The means and appliances by which anything is kept in action or a desired result is obtained; a complex system of parts adapted to a purpose. [1913 Webster]

An indispensable part of the machinery of state. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]

The delicate inflexional machinery of the Aryan languages. --I. Taylor (The Alphabet). [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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Synonyms:
, / (in poems)


Look at other dictionaries:

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  • machinery — (n.) 1680s; from MACHINE (Cf. machine) (n.) + ERY (Cf. ery). Originally theatrical, devices for creating stage effects (which also was a sense of Gk. mekhane); meaning machines collectively is attested from 1731. Middle English had machinament a… …   Etymology dictionary

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  • machinery — [n] devices performing work accouterment, agency, agent, apparatus, appliance, channel, contraption, contrivance, engine, equipment, gadget, gear, habiliments, implement, instrument, materiel, means, mechanism, medium, method, motor, organ,… …   New thesaurus

  • machinery — ► NOUN 1) machines collectively, or the components of a machine. 2) the organization or structure of something …   English terms dictionary

  • machinery — n. machines 1) to operate, run machinery 2) to maintain machinery apparatus 3) administrative; law enforcement; propaganda machinery 4) machinery for (machinery for negotiations) * * * [mə ʃiːn(ə)rɪ] law enforcement propaganda machinery run… …   Combinatory dictionary

  • machinery — ma|chin|e|ry S3 [məˈʃi:nəri] n [U] 1.) machines, especially large ones agricultural/industrial/factory etc machinery ▪ The use of heavy machinery has damaged the site. ▪ an expensive piece of machinery 2.) a system or set of processes for doing… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

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