machinery

Pronunciation

• IPA: /məˈʃiːnəɹi/^[1]

Etymology

It is from machine with the suffix -ery.^[2][3][4] Middle English had machinament, a contrivance (early 15th century).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the theatre, devices for creating stage effects, and in literature the supernatural agents and contrivances of a poem: 1687, the 1680s in Etymonline.^[5][2][4]

Semantic evolution

Greek mēkhanē also had the theatrical sense.^[2] Machines or the parts of a machine taken collectively are attested from 1731,^[2][5] and figuratively any complex system of means to carry on a work, as the machinery of government, by 1770.^[2][5]

Timeline

• early 15th century – machinament.^[2]
• 1687 – stage or literary devices.^[5]
• 1731 – machines collectively.^[5]
• 1770 – a system (figurative).^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Machines or machine parts considered collectively.
2. The working parts of a particular machine.
3. A system or organization by which something is done: the machinery of government.
4. Literary devices used for effect, as in epic poetry.

Word family

• antimachinery
• turbomachinery

Related words

• machinist
• machine
• mechanism

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press