资料来源 : pyDict
机器,机械装置,机构,设计,机械般工作的人以机器制造
资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Machine \Ma*chine"\, n. [F., fr. L. machina machine, engine,
device, trick, Gr. ?, from ? means, expedient. Cf.
{Mechanic}.]
1. In general, any combination of bodies so connected that
their relative motions are constrained, and by means of
which force and motion may be transmitted and modified, as
a screw and its nut, or a lever arranged to turn about a
fulcrum or a pulley about its pivot, etc.; especially, a
construction, more or less complex, consisting of a
combination of moving parts, or simple mechanical
elements, as wheels, levers, cams, etc., with their
supports and connecting framework, calculated to
constitute a prime mover, or to receive force and motion
from a prime mover or from another machine, and transmit,
modify, and apply them to the production of some desired
mechanical effect or work, as weaving by a loom, or the
excitation of electricity by an electrical machine.
Note: The term machine is most commonly applied to such
pieces of mechanism as are used in the industrial arts,
for mechanically shaping, dressing, and combining
materials for various purposes, as in the manufacture
of cloth, etc. Where the effect is chemical, or other
than mechanical, the contrivance is usually denominated
an apparatus, not a machine; as, a bleaching apparatus.
Many large, powerful, or specially important pieces of
mechanism are called engines; as, a steam engine, fire
engine, graduating engine, etc. Although there is no
well-settled distinction between the terms engine and
machine among practical men, there is a tendency to
restrict the application of the former to contrivances
in which the operating part is not distinct from the
motor.
2. Any mechanical contrivance, as the wooden horse with which
the Greeks entered Troy; a coach; a bicycle. --Dryden.
--Southey. --Thackeray.
3. A person who acts mechanically or at will of another.
4. A combination of persons acting together for a common
purpose, with the agencies which they use; as, the social
machine.
The whole machine of government ought not to bear
upon the people with a weight so heavy and
oppressive. --Landor.
5. A political organization arranged and controlled by one or
more leaders for selfish, private or partisan ends.
[Political Cant]
6. Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being
introduced to perform some exploit. --Addison.
{Elementary machine}, a name sometimes given to one of the
simple mechanical powers. See under {Mechanical}.
{Infernal machine}. See under {Infernal}.
{Machine gun}.See under {Gun.}
{Machine screw}, a screw or bolt adapted for screwing into
metal, in distinction from one which is designed
especially to be screwed into wood.
{Machine shop}, a workshop where machines are made, or where
metal is shaped by cutting, filing, turning, etc.
{Machine tool}, a machine for cutting or shaping wood, metal,
etc., by means of a tool; especially, a machine, as a
lathe, planer, drilling machine, etc., designed for a more
or less general use in a machine shop, in distinction from
a machine for producing a special article as in
manufacturing.
{Machine twist}, silken thread especially adapted for use in
a sewing machine.
{Machine work}, work done by a machine, in contradistinction
to that done by hand labor.
Machine \Ma*chine"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Machined}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Machining}.]
To subject to the action of machinery; to effect by aid of
machinery; to print with a printing machine.
资料来源 : WordNet®
machine
n 1: any mechanical or electrical device that transmits or
modifies energy to perform or assist in the performance
of human tasks
2: an intricate organization that accomplishes its goals
efficiently; "the war machine"
3: an efficient person; "the boxer was a magnificent fighting
machine"
4: 4-wheeled motor vehicle; usually propelled by an internal
combustion engine; "he needs a car to get to work" [syn: {car},
{auto}, {automobile}, {motorcar}]
5: a group that controls the activities of a political party;
"he was endorsed by the Democratic machine" [syn: {political
machine}]
6: a device for overcoming resistance at one point by applying
force at some other point [syn: {simple machine}]
machine
v 1: turn, shape, mold, or otherwise finish by machinery
2: make by machinery; "The Americans were machining while
others still hand-made cars"
资料来源 : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing
machine
Common term for "computer", usually when considered at the
hardware level. The {Turing Machine}, an early example of
this usage, was however neither hardware nor software, but
only an idea.
[Earlier use?]
(1995-02-15)