FACTORY

factory, mill, manufacturing plant, manufactory

(noun) a plant consisting of one or more buildings with facilities for manufacturing

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

factory (plural factories)

(obsolete) A trading establishment, especially set up by merchants working in a foreign country.

Synonyms: fondaco (Italian contexts), tradepost, trading post

(now rare) The position or state of being a factor.

A building or other place where manufacturing takes place.

Synonym: manufactory

A device which produces or manufactures something.

A factory farm.

(programming) In a computer program or library, a function, method, etc. which creates an object.

(UK, slang) A police station.

Adjective

factory (not comparable)

(colloquial, of a configuration, part, etc.) Having come from the factory in the state it is currently in; original, stock.

Source: Wiktionary

Fac"to*ry, n.; pl. Factories (-r. Etym: [Cf. F. factorerie.]

1. A house or place where factors, or commercial agents, reside, to transact business for their employers. "The Company's factory at Madras." Burke.

2. The body of factors in any place; as, a chaplain to a British factory. W. Guthrie.

3. A building, or collection of buildings, appropriated to the manufacture of goods; the place where workmen are employed in fabricating goods, wares, or utensils; a manufactory; as, a cotton factory. Factory leg (Med.), a variety of bandy leg, associated with partial dislocation of the tibia, produced in young children by working in factories.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition