Ma-chīne'1, n.
(ma-sheen'), n. [Fr., Sp. maquina, It. macchina, from Lat. machina, machine, engine, device, trick, Gr. μηχανή, from μῆχος, means, expedient.] 1. In general, any body or assemblage of bodies used to transmit and modify force and motion, as a lever, pulley, wedge, screw, &c.; especially, a construction, more or less complex, consisting of a combination of moving parts, or simple mechanical elements, as wheels, levers, cams, &c., with their supports and connecting framework, calculated 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. 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, &c. 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, &c. There is, however, no well-settled distinction between the terms engine and machine among practical men. Elementary machines, the simple mechanical powers. See under MECHANICAL. 2. An engine; an instrument of force. With inward arms the dire machine they load. Dryden. 3. Any instrument or organization by which power is applied and made effective, or a desired effect produced; the whole complex system by which any organization or institution exists or is carried on. The whole machine of government ought not to bear upon the people with a weight so heavy and oppressive. Loudon. 4. Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced into a poem to perform some exploit. Pope.