machine: [16] The ultimate source of both machine and mechanic [14] was makhos, a Greek word meaning ‘contrivance, means’, and related distantly to English may ‘be able’ and might. From it was derived mēkhané, whose Doric dialect form mākhaná passed into Latin as māchina ‘engine, contrivance’. English acquired the word via Old French machine. Meanwhile mēkhané had spawned an adjectival derivative mēkhanikós, which was in due course to find its way into English through Latin mēchanicus. => mechanic
machine (n.)
1540s, "structure of any kind," from Middle French machine "device, contrivance," from Latin machina "machine, engine, military machine; device, trick; instrument" (source also of Spanish maquina, Italian macchina), from Greek makhana, Doric variant of mekhane "device, means," related to mekhos "means, expedient, contrivance," from PIE *maghana- "that which enables," from root *magh- (1) "to be able, have power" (cognates: Old Church Slavonic mogo "be able," Old English mæg "I can;" see may (v.)).
Main modern sense of "device made of moving parts for applying mechanical power" (1670s) probably grew out of mid-17c. senses of "apparatus, appliance" and "military siege-tower." In late 19c. slang the word was used for both "penis" and "vagina," one of the few so honored. Political sense is U.S. slang, first recorded 1876. Machine age is attested by 1851:
The idea of remodelling society at public meetings is one of the least reasonable which ever entered the mind of an agitator: and the notion that the relations of the sexes can be re-arranged and finally disposed of by preamble and resolution, is one of the latest, as it should have been the last, vagary of a machine age. ["The Literary World," Nov. 1, 1851]
Machine for living (in) "house" translates Le Corbusier's machine à habiter (1923).
machine (v.)
mid-15c., "decide, resolve," from Old French and Latin usages (see machine (n.)). Related: Machined; machining. Meaning "to make or form on a machine" is from 1878. Related: Machined; machining.
双语例句
1. Planes dropped bombs and raked the beach with machine gun fire.
飞机投下炸弹，并用机关枪扫射海滩。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Parents can programme the machine not to turn on at certain times.
父母可以设定这台机器的程序，使它在特定时间段无法开启。
来自柯林斯例句
3. The repairs to the Hafner machine were near to completion.
对哈夫纳机器的修理即将结束。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Boys and girls will enjoy messing about with any kind of machine.
男孩和女孩会喜欢摆弄各种机械装置。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The three of us stood around the machine nodding wisely.
