Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Machines or machine parts considered as a group.
- n. The working parts of a particular machine.
- n. A system of related elements that operate in a definable manner: diplomatic and political machinery.
- n. A device or means of achieving or effecting a result.
- n. A literary device for bringing about an effect, such as a happy ending.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The parts of a machine considered collectively; any combination of mechanical means designed to work together so as to effect a given end: as, the machinery of a watch, or of a canal-lock.
- n. Machines collectively; a congeries or assemblage of machines: as, the machinery of a cotton-mill is often moved by a single wheel.
- n. Any complex system of means and appliances, not mechanical, designed to carry on any particular work, or keep anything in action, or to effect a specific purpose or end: as, the machinery of government.
- n. Specifically, the agencies, particularly if supernatural, by which the plot of an epic or dramatic poem, or other imaginative work, is carried on and conducted to the catastrophe.
Wiktionary
- n. The machines constituting a production apparatus, in a plant etc., collectively.
- n. The working parts of a machine as a group.
- n. The collective parts of something which allow it to function.
- n. figuratively The literary devices used in a work, notably for dramatic effect
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Machines, in general, or collectively.
- n. The working parts of a machine, engine, or instrument.
- n. 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.
- n. 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.
WordNet 3.0
- n. machines or machine systems collectively
- n. a system of means and activities whereby a social institution functions
Etymologies
- From French machinerie ("machinery"), from machine ("machine"); see machine. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The remarkable thing about the machinery is the extent to which it truly functions in the way you and I imagine or think of a machine.”
“The great rotary presses in the basement of the _Record_ building had filled him with a new enthusiasm: he had painted there, and Sir James had bought at sight, what he called a machinery-scape in the manner of Heinrich Kley.”
“Milly would, if she could, have stuck her fingers into what she called the machinery of the thing.”
“A lot of knitting and weaving machinery is controlled by punched cards - so were computers for a long time.”
“Seems like focusing on machinery is likely to be less protective than focusing on morality and practice.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Derivatives Clearinghouses and Exchanges
“However, I must admit that I got hung up on “crane fly,” because I thought that was a different name for a Crane (as in machinery), but once I understood, I started back at the beginning and throughly enjoyed the story.”
“This serves to make our savings available for real investment - investment in machinery, R&D, etc.”
Economic Education, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“Democratic machinery is unrelenting in going after Palin.”
“The Democratic machinery is unrelenting in going after Palin because it is so easy to do.”
“(Later on, when all of the new machinery is in place, the barrels will be button rifled.)”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘machinery’.
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EU Buzz - ALL words and expressions
A combined list of
1. EU Buzz - single words
2. EU Buzz - collocations
3. EU Buzz - the 100 most active
collocation constituentsabsorption capacity, absorption rate, acceding country, accession candidate, accession countries, accession country, accession criteria, accession cycle, accession negotia..., accession partner..., accession priorities, accession treaty and 2650 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
veal, valve, used, yak, wax, wan, teak, vat, vas, strip, use, strap and 4515 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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alopecia
i suppose, all of the words & phrases yoni wolf uses in alopecia, that i love.
ladies man, landmine, cavalier, consumer grade video, single's bingo, all-time gringo, calculated birth, manila envelope, mortaring, houdini, punchline, circus mirrors and 160 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian's Words
hippopotomonstros..., sesquipedalian, yamzetz, dissolute, gelid, indolent, bloviate, conapt, ululate, jeremiad, machinery, gobbet and 29 more...
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LIT - the 100 most common words of th...
Based on a frequency analysis
ages, already, away, become, bourgeois, bourgeoisie, capital, carried, character, class, commerce, commodity and 88 more...
Tweets
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