Meaning

• Noun

  1. A device that directs and controls energy, often in the form of movement or electricity, to produce a certain effect.
  2. A vehicle operated mechanically, such as an automobile or an airplane.
  3. An answering machine or, by extension, voice mail.
  4. A computer.
  5. A person or organisation that seemingly acts like a machine, being particularly efficient, single-minded, or unemotional.
  6. Especially, the group that controls a political or similar organization; a combination of persons acting together for a common purpose, with the agencies which they use.
  7. Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced to perform some exploit.
  8. The system of special interest groups that supports a political party, especially in urban areas.
  9. (obsolete) Penis.
  10. A contrivance in the Ancient Greek theatre for indicating a change of scene, by means of which a god might cross the stage or deliver a divine message; the deus ex machina.
  11. (obsolete) A bathing machine.

• Verb