01 n. Machines, in general, or collectively.
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1.
Machines, in general, or collectively.
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2.
The working parts of a machine, engine, or instrument; as, the machinery of a watch.
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3.
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.“The machinery, madam, is a term invented by the critics, to signify that part which the deities, angels, or demons, are made to act in a poem.” — Pope.
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4.
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.“An indispensable part of the machinery of state.” — Macaulay.“The delicate inflexional machinery of the Aryan languages.” — I. Taylor (The Alphabet).