MECHANICAL

mechanical

(adjective) using (or as if using) mechanisms or tools or devices; “a mechanical process”; “his smile was very mechanical”; “a mechanical toy”

mechanical

(adjective) relating to or governed by or in accordance with mechanics; “a belief that the universe is a mechanical contrivance”; “the mechanical pressure of a strong wind”

mechanical, mechanically skillful, technical

(adjective) relating to or concerned with machinery or tools; “mechanical arts”; “mechanical design”; “mechanical skills”; “a technical fault”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Adjective

mechanical (comparative more mechanical, superlative most mechanical)

(now rare) Characteristic of someone who does manual labour for a living; coarse, vulgar.

Related to mechanics (the branch of physics that deals with forces acting on mass).

Related to mechanics (the design and construction of machines).

Done by machine.

Using mechanics (the design and construction of machines): being a machine.

As if performed by a machine: lifeless or mindless.

(of a person) Acting as if one were a machine: lifeless or mindless.

(informal) Handy with machines.

Noun

mechanical (plural mechanicals)

(advertising) Manually created layout of artwork that is camera ready for photographic reproduction.

One who does manual labor, especially one who is similar to Shakespeare's rude mechanicals

(science fiction) A robot or mechanical creature.

(engineering) A mechanical engineer.

(bicycling) An instance of equipment failure.

(music) A stop on an organ that is operated by a hand or foot control rather than having to be manually set up in advance.

(archaic) A machine that performs a job typically accomplished using an animal or manual labor.

Synonyms

• (camera-ready artwork): pasteup

Source: Wiktionary

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Me*chan"ic*al, a. Etym: [From Mechanic, a.]

1. Pertaining to, governed by, or in accordance with, mechanics, or the laws of motion; pertaining to the quantitative relations of force and matter, as distinguished from mental, vital, chemical, etc.; as, mechanical principles; a mechanical theory; mechanical deposits.

2. Of or pertaining to a machine or to machinery or tools; made or formed by a machine or with tools; as, mechanical precision; mechanical products. We have also divers mechanical arts. Bacon.

3. Done as if by a machine; uninfluenced by will or emotion; proceeding automatically, or by habit, without special intention or reflection; as, mechanical singing; mechanical verses; mechanical service.

4. Made and operated by interaction of forces without a directing intelligence; as, a mechanical universe.

5. Obtained by trial, by measurements, etc.; approximate; empirical. See the 2d Note under Geometric. Mechanical effect, effective power; useful work exerted, as by a machine, in a definite time.

– Mechanical engineering. See the Note under Engineering.

– Mechanical maneuvers (Mil.), the application of mechanical appliances to the mounting, dismounting, and moving of artillery. Farrow.

– Mechanical philosophy, the principles of mechanics applied to the inverstigation of physical phenomena.

– Mechanical powers, certain simple instruments, such as the lever and its modifications (the wheel and axle and the pulley), the inclined plane with its modifications (the screw and the wedge), which convert a small force acting throught a great space into a great force acting through a small space, or vice versa, and are used separately or in combination.

– Mechanical solution (Math.), a solution of a problem by any art or contrivance not strictly geometrical, as by means of the ruler and compasses, or other instruments.

Me*chan"ic*al, n.

Definition: A mechanic. [Obs.] Shak.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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