mechanismn.

Brit.

/ˈmɛkənɪz(ə)m/,

/ˈmɛkn̩ɪz(ə)m/, U.S.

/ˈmɛkəˌnɪzəm/

Forms: 1600s mechanisme, 1600s– mechanism.

Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin mechanismus.

Etymology: < post-classical Latin mechanismus (perhaps 17th cent.) < ancient Greek μηχανή machine n. + post-classical Latin -ismus -ism suffix. Compare earlier mechanist n. Compare French mécanisme structure of a natural or artificial organism and the combined action of its parts (1701; also †méchanisme), Italian meccanismo (1707, < English or French), Portuguese mecanismo (1813, < French), Spanish mecanismo (1822); also German Mechanismus (plural Mechanismen; 1738 or earlier). Compare also post-classical Latin mechanisma (neuter) contrivance (6th cent.).Post-classical Latin mechanismus was frequently used to denote the mechanical structure and action of nature in Cartesian philosophy; compare sense 4 and mechanical adj. 9, and also in more general application early uses at sense 1a.

I. The structure or operation of a machine or other complex system; a theory or approach relating to this.

a. The structure of, or the relationship of the parts in, a machine, or in a construction or process comparable to a machine. (In early use chiefly with reference to natural systems.) Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > [noun]

shapec1050

composition1382

temperc1400

confectionc1420

temperament1471

frame?1520

compage1550

architecture1590

compacture1590

structure?1591

fabricaturec1600

constitution1601

membrature1606

composture1614

compositure1625

contexturea1639

composure1639

economy1644

fabric1644

conformation1646

composier1648

constructurea1652

compages1660

mechanism1662

compound1671

construction1707

componency1750

formation1774

make-up1821

1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ iii. §15. 401 To impute that rare mechanism of the works of nature to the blind and fortuitous motion of some particles of matter?

1686 R. Boyle Free Enq. Notion Nature 73 I shall express, what I call'd General Nature, by Cosmical Mechanism, that is, a Comprisal of all the Mechanical Affections (Figure, Size, Motion, &c.) that belong to the matter of the great System of the Universe.

1722 W. Wollaston Relig. of Nature v. 100 He..knows the make of their bodies, and all the mechanism and propensions of them.

1776 G. Campbell Philos. of Rhetoric I. i. xi. 288 The wonderful mechanism of our mental frame.

1854 D. Brewster More Worlds xvii. 256 The wonderful mechanisms of animal and vegetable life.

1855 A. Bain Senses & Intellect i. i. 67 The mechanism or anatomy of movement in the animal frame.

1862 C. Darwin On Var. Contrivances Orchids Fertilised iii. 100 The mechanism of the flower.

1867 M. E. Herbert Cradle Lands iii. 96 The door was a marvel of mechanism.

1965 Listener 2 Sept. 332/2 The conceptions of molecular codes, and the chemical storage of information..have stimulated fascinating speculations about the mechanism of memory and the mystery of dreams.

†b. More generally: the interconnection of parts in any complex process, pattern, or arrangement. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > [noun] > a structure

machine1545

framework1578

compact1600

fabrication1602

machination1605

compound1607

structure1612

compilement1624

fabric1633

contignation1635

artifice1700

mechanism1712

creel1788

composition1793

arrangement1800

1712 Spectator No. 518. ⁋8 The Contour of his Person, the Mechanism of his Dress, [etc.].

1715 J. T. Desaguliers tr. N. Gauger Fires Improv'd 154 The whole Mechanism of it [sc. a chimney] will be easily understood by a sight of the Figures.

1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Mechanism,..2. Construction of parts depending on each other in any complicated fabrick.

1770 T. Percy tr. P. H. Mallet Northern Antiq. II. 191 A small Treatise on the Construction and Mechanism of the Gothic or Icelandic Metre.

a. A system of mutually adapted parts working together in a machine or in a manner analogous to that of a machine; a piece of machinery. Also: machinery, mechanical appliances.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > [noun]

trama1400

ginc1400

pageant1519

engine1581

machination1605

machina1612

machine1659

mechanism1665

contrivance1667

gimcrack1772

plant1925

power1942

society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > mechanism > [noun]

mechanic1605

mechanism1758

machinery1803

mechanicism1856

action1864

1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 170 Its Mechanism consists principally in two parts, that is, first its two Claws,..and secondly, two Palms.

a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) i. ii. 48 That Opinion that depresseth the natures of sensible Creatures below their just value..rendring them no more but barely Mechanisms or Artificial Engins.

1758 A. Reid tr. P. J. Macquer Elements Theory & Pract. Chym. I. 129 This is brought about by a mechanism to which we are strangers.

1777 W. Mason Epist. Dr. Shebbeare 17 (note) As Mr. Cox's automata were very much in the Chinese taste, [he] was very curious to discover their mechanism.

1802 W. Paley Nat. Theol. xxiii. 447 Mechanism is not itself power. Mechanism, without power, can do nothing.

1814 D. Stewart Elem. Philos. Human Mind II. ii. §2. 143 The wonderful mechanism of speech.

1822 J. Imison Elem. Sci. & Art I. 94 The part of the mechanism of a watch which shows the hour of the day.

1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. 9 809 The vascular dilatation must be considered as the result of the morbid condition of the mechanism of the circulation.

1913 J. S. Haldane Mechanism, Life & Personality i. 9 Descartes, in his writings about the nervous system,..suggested nervous mechanisms.

1939 E. D. Laborde tr. E. de Martonne Shorter Physical Geogr. (rev. ed.) 2 The meteorologist analyses the mechanism of climate.

1973 A. d'A. Bellairs & J. F. D. Frazer Smith's Brit. Amphibians & Reptiles (ed. 5) v. 164 Kinesis and streptostylism..form the basis for the mechanism of fang erection in the vipers and their allies.

1984 C. James Flying Visits 2 Those old piston-engined airliners would have fascinated me even had they never left the ground, but the thought of such beautiful mechanisms actually travelling through the sky was almost too much to take.

1993 Atlantic Monthly Oct. 40/1 As winds change, a computer orders hydraulic mechanisms to change the pitch of the blades.

b. spec. in a musical instrument.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > [noun] > mechanism

mechanism1834

piano action1853

pianoforte action1856

key action1857

1834 New Eng. Mag. Jan. 28 There was then but little acquaintance with the internal mechanism of musical instruments of this kind [sc. piano-fortes] in Boston.

1849 Brit. Patent 12,378 (1857) 2 My invention consists of so arranging the mechanism of a flute that the closing of the C sharp and the B natural holes may be simultaneous by the action of the second finger.

1876 J. Stainer & W. A. Barrett Dict. Musical Terms 283/2 Mechanism, that part of an instrument which forms the connection between the player and the sound-producing portion.

1938 Oxf. Compan. Music 625/1 All these instruments possessing the double reed and the conical bore, their differences are only of detail, especially in a progressive refinement of tone and improvement of mechanism.

1961 T. Dart in A. C. Baines Musical Instruments through Ages iii. 68 For more than four hundred years the clavichord held a place of honour among keyboard instruments... Its mechanism is very simple.

1975 S. Marcuse Musical Instruments (rev. ed.) 122/1 Contrabasses [sc. clarinets] were generally made of metal, Fr[ench] ones being fitted with the Boehm mechanism.

c. An ordered sequence of events involved in a biological, chemical or physical process; (Chemistry) the steps making up a chemical reaction, frequently described in terms of the transfer and sharing of bonding electrons.

ΚΠ

1848 W. H. Walshe in Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. IV. 100/2 This is a most plausible and clear view of the chemical mechanism of sugar disease.

1909 G. N. Calkins Protozoölogy (1910) i. 29 Bodies closely associated with the mechanism of nuclear division and of locomotion.

1927 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 49 2451 These new facts make possible a better conception of the mechanism of the photochemical decomposition of ammonia.

1939 N. Bohr & J. A. Wheeler in Physical Rev. 56 426 On the basis of the liquid drop model of atomic nuclei, an account is given of the mechanism of nuclear fission.

1955 A. C. Chamberlain Aspects of Trav. & Deposition of Aerosol & Vapour Clouds (A.E.R.E. Doc. HP/R 1261) 2 The four mechanisms by which aerosol particles and vapours are removed from the atmosphere, namely: (a) Sedimentation, (b) Impaction, (c) Diffusion.., (d) Wash out by rain.

1972 R. A. Jackson Mechanism i. 1 To understand completely the mechanism of an organic reaction, we require to know as a function of time the precise positions of the atoms in the reactant molecules as they are converted into products via any possible intermediates.

1999 New Scientist 3 July 85/1 (advt.) The project will employ biochemical and genetic approaches to investigate the molecular mechanism of the frameshift process.

d. Mechanics. A kinematic chain of which one link is fixed or stationary.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > other parts > [noun] > other specific parts

armOE

button?1561

running gear1663

relax1676

collar1678

drumhead1698

long arm1717

drum1744

press cloth1745

head1785

absorber1789

bearing plate1794

crown1796

rhodings1805

press box1825

alternator1829

cushion1832

saw tooth1835

shoe1837

keyboard1839

returner1839

cross-head1844

channel shoe1845

baster1846

water port1864

shifter1869

magazine1873

entry port1874

upsetter1875

mechanism1876

tapper1876

tension bar1879

buttonholer1882

take-up1884

auger1886

instrument panel1897

balancer1904

torsion bar1937

powerhead1960

1876 A. B. W. Kennedy tr. F. Reuleaux Kinematics of Machinery 47 A closed kinematic chain, of which one link is thus made stationary, is called a mechanism.

1915 R. F. McKay Theory of Machines viii. 92 When one of the links of the kinematic chain is fixed, the chain is called a mechanism. When the mechanism transmits force..it is called a machine.

1946 L. Toft & A. T. J. Kersey Theory of Machines (ed. 5) iv. 89 When one of the links of a kinematic chain is fixed, the chain becomes a mechanism, and if the mechanism performs the functions described in Art. 1 it is a machine.

1995 Robotica 13 507 The kinematic structure of closed chain mechanisms.

e. Psychology. An unconscious, structured set of mental processes underlying a person's behaviour or responses.defence mechanism: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > psychology > mental action or process > [noun] > mechanism of

mechanism1876

1876 Mind 1 138 How abstruse, complicated, and difficult to follow in its details and applications the Herbartist theory of mind as a ‘psychological mechanism’ is.

1885 E. Hamilton & E. E. C. Jones tr. H. Lotze Microcosmus I. ii. iv. 232 The mind is not content to have connections of ideas imposed on it by the mechanism of perception and memory.

1921 H. C. Miller New Psychol. & Teacher 161 This mental mechanism [sc. the complex] lies at the root of all bias, all injustice, and all inability to think clearly.

1929 K. S. Lashley (title) Brain mechanisms and intelligence.

1941 Psychosomatic Med. July 227/1 The adaptive mechanisms by means of which the organism strives to achieve this goal.

1941 Psychosomatic Med. July 233/1 By ‘cognitive field’ or ‘practical insight’ we mean a mechanism capable of registering and integrating stimuli.

1964 C. N. Cofer & M. H. Appley Motivation xi. 573 Conceptions of learned drive basically assert that responses which produce strong stimuli are the mechanisms of such drives.

1979 H. Segal Klein viii. 102 Introjection and projection are fundamental mental mechanisms existing from birth and continuing throughout life.

1991 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 114 677/1 This reflected his [sc. Freud's] growing belief that phobias had their roots, as with hysteria, in psychological mechanisms.

f. gen. A means by which an effect or result is produced.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > (a) means

keyOE

toolc1000

wherewithc1230

ministerc1380

meanc1390

instrumenta1425

organ?a1425

mesne1447

moyen1449

handlec1450

hackneya1500

receipta1500

operative1526

ingine1531

appliance1555

agent1579

matter1580

mids1581

wedge1581

wherewithal1583

shoeing-horn1587

engine1589

instrumental1598

Roaring Meg1598

procurement1601

organy1605

vehicle1615

vehiculuma1617

executioner1646

facility1652

operatory1660

instrumentality1663

expedient1665

agency1684

bladea1713

mechanic1924

mechanism1924

1924 Brit. Weekly 28 Aug. 471/3 He will see strange recesses in human personality and unsuspected mechanisms fashioning religious beliefs.

1966 J. F. Pickering Resale Price Maintenance i. 15 In a number of trades r.p.m. was enforced privately through the mechanism of the relevant trade association.

1972 Physics Bull. Mar. 141/1 Some mechanism must be found for judging the quality of the work done by the chief scientist and the controller.

1996 Population Stud. 50 239 The effectiveness of the ‘old moral order’ as a mechanism of social control over individuals explains a substantial amount of the variation in fertility within many traditional societies.

†3. Mechanical action; action according to the laws of mechanics. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > necessity > [noun] > natural necessity > action according to mechanical laws

mechanism1671

1671 Bp. S. Parker Def. Eccl. Politie 342 The Philosophy of a Phanatick being as intelligible by the Laws of Mechanism, as the Motion of the Heart, and Circulation of the Bloud.

1692 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. iii. 32 He acknowledges nothing besides Matter and Motion; so that all that he can conceive to be transmitted hither from the Stars, must needs be perform'd either by Mechanism or Accident.

1704 J. Norris Ess. Ideal World II. ii. 90 The most that use them [sc. movements] are utterly ignorant of the laws of mechanism and yet order their footing as artificially as the most skilful.

1731 J. Arbuthnot Ess. Nature Aliments ii. 16 After the Chyle has pass'd through the Lungs, Nature continues her usual Mechanism to convert it into Animal Substances.

1749 D. Hartley Observ. Man i. iv. 500 The Mechanism or Necessity of human Actions, in Opposition to what is generally termed Free-will.

1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature IV. 5 Mechanism has become a learned word. But, does it mean any more than that one particle of matter is impelled by another,..and that still by another, until we come to the particle first moved?

1813 H. Cowley Bay in Turkey ii. i, in Wks. 263 Your men..seem but Statues made to walk by mechanism!

4. Philosophy. The opinion or doctrine that all natural (esp. biological or mental) phenomena can be explained with reference to mechanical or chemical processes.Associated esp. with Descartes (1596–1650). Cf. mechanicalism n. 1a, mechanicism n. 3.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > theoretical scientific philosophy > [noun] > mechanism or mechanistic theory

mechanism1690

mechanicism1867

mechanicalism1892

mechanicalism1893

1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding i. iii. 22 Thereby making Men no other than bare Machins... And upon that ground, they must necessarily reject all Principles of Vertue, who cannot put Morality and Mechanism together.

1777 J. Priestley Matter & Spirit (1782) I. Introd. 5 Mechanism is the undoubted consequence of materialism.

1849 Amer. Whig Rev. June 582/1 Thought cannot belong to the province of animal sensations, nor be explained by them, neither can sensations be resolved into the movements of insensible matter, nor be explained by the laws of ordinary mechanism.

1902 J. M. Baldwin Dict. Philos. & Psychol. II. 59/1 In biology: mechanism is opposed to vitalism, and in more recent controversy to neo-vitalism.

1909 W. R. Sorley Interpr. Evol. 24 ‘The organization of nature’, says Kant, ‘has in it nothing analogous to any causality we know.’ It is not mechanism; nor, again, is it finalism.

1956 O. L. Zangwill in A. Pryce-Jones New Outl. Mod. Knowl. 170 Mechanism has sought to account for all behaviour in terms of the quasi-automatic activities of the central nervous system.

1984 D. Cupitt Sea of Faith i. 31 The shift, then, is from myths to maths, from animism to mechanism.

II. Extended uses.

†5. A contrivance, a trick; trickery, falsehood. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > (a) means > available means or a resource > a device, contrivance, or expedient

costOE

craftOE

custc1275

ginc1275

devicec1290

enginec1300

quaintisec1300

contrevurec1330

castc1340

knackc1369

findinga1382

wilea1400

conject14..

skiftc1400

policy?1406

subtilityc1410

policec1450

conjecturea1464

industry1477

invention1516

cunning1526

shift1530

compass1540

chevisance1548

trade1550

tour1558

fashion1562

invent?1567

expediment1571

trick1573

ingeny1588

machine1595

lock1598

contrival1602

contrivement1611

artifice1620

recipea1643

ingenuity1651

expedient1653

contrivance1661

excogitation1664

mechanism1669

expediency1683

stroke1699

spell1728

management1736

manoeuvre1769

move1794

wrinkle1817

dodge1842

jigamaree1847

quiff1881

kink1889

lurk1916

gadget1920

fastie1931

ploy1940

1669 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 4 904 'Tis true indeed, it may be done..by tryals and profers; as, who cannot in that manner divide an Arch into three Equal parts? But such Mechanisms are accounted ageometrick.

1670 W. Clarke Nat. Hist. Nitre 92 It is also a pretty Mechanism in Cookery..which is this, Nitre giveth a Red Colour to Neats-Tongues, [etc.].

1688 J. Evelyn Let. 10 Oct. in J. Gutch Collectanea Curiosa (1781) I. lxvi. 414 All their [sc. the Jesuits'] other mechanismes, and arts having fail'd them.

1730 J. Ralph Fashionable Lady ii. xv. 57 Ballad. This is the best Scene in Christendom; it shall act with any Play in Europe... Drama. Meer Mechanism, Mr. Ballad, I assure you!

1820 C. R. Maturin Melmoth I. v. 250 I tell you it was artificial;..it was all mechanism or imposture;..it was all practised with the hope of escaping from it ultimately.

†6. Technical skill or artistry; technical execution. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [noun] > skill or art > skill or craftsmanship

artc1300

artificialityc1535

artifice1597

craftsmanshipa1652

mechanism1710

craftmanship1829

artificership1835

craftiness1974

1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 209. ⁋2 Painting is Eloquence and Poetry in Mechanism.

1736 R. Ainsworth Thes. Linguæ Latinæ Talus..who first invented the saw..grew such an artist, that Dædalus fearing to be outdone in mechanism put him to death.

1786 R. P. Knight Acct. Worship of Priapus 139 Mercury,..the God of Art and Mechanism.

a. In painting, sculpture, music, etc.: the mechanical or physical execution of a work of art; technique. Opposed to style or expression.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [noun] > work of art > technique

mechanism1833

1833 H. Martineau Briery Creek iv. 85 The mechanism of society thus resembles the mechanism of man's art.

1843 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters I. 94 (note) Canaletti's mechanism is wonderful. Prout's the rudest possible; but there is not a grain of feeling in the one, and there is much in the other.

1860 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters V. 281 [Teniers and Wouvermans] seem never to have painted indolently, but gave the purchaser his thorough money's worth of mechanism.

1876 J. Stainer & W. A. Barrett Dict. Musical Terms 283/2 Mechanism,..(2) The physical power of performance, as distinguished from the intellect or taste which directs it.

1978 ELH 45 523 The dichotomous catch-alls, ‘romantic’ and ‘classical’..tend to evade the essentially organic process of poetic history and, when applied to Byron and Eliot, easily obscure the mechanism of their poetry.

b. The formulaic following of a set technique, etc., in order to produce desired effects. rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > weakness or feebleness > [noun] > mechanical quality

mechanism1903

1903 Ld. Rosebery in Daily News 27 Nov. 5/5 Lord Macaulay's works..are charged now with a certain amount of mannerism and a certain amount of mechanism.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2001; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	mechanism
释义	mechanismn. Brit. /ˈmɛkənɪz(ə)m/, /ˈmɛkn̩ɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /ˈmɛkəˌnɪzəm/ Forms: 1600s mechanisme, 1600s– mechanism. Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin mechanismus. Etymology: < post-classical Latin mechanismus (perhaps 17th cent.) < ancient Greek μηχανή machine n. + post-classical Latin -ismus -ism suffix. Compare earlier mechanist n. Compare French mécanisme structure of a natural or artificial organism and the combined action of its parts (1701; also †méchanisme), Italian meccanismo (1707, < English or French), Portuguese mecanismo (1813, < French), Spanish mecanismo (1822); also German Mechanismus (plural Mechanismen; 1738 or earlier). Compare also post-classical Latin mechanisma (neuter) contrivance (6th cent.).Post-classical Latin mechanismus was frequently used to denote the mechanical structure and action of nature in Cartesian philosophy; compare sense 4 and mechanical adj. 9, and also in more general application early uses at sense 1a. I. The structure or operation of a machine or other complex system; a theory or approach relating to this. 1. a. The structure of, or the relationship of the parts in, a machine, or in a construction or process comparable to a machine. (In early use chiefly with reference to natural systems.) Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > [noun] shapec1050 composition1382 temperc1400 confectionc1420 temperament1471 frame?1520 compage1550 architecture1590 compacture1590 structure?1591 fabricaturec1600 constitution1601 membrature1606 composture1614 compositure1625 contexturea1639 composure1639 economy1644 fabric1644 conformation1646 composier1648 constructurea1652 compages1660 mechanism1662 compound1671 construction1707 componency1750 formation1774 make-up1821 1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ iii. §15. 401 To impute that rare mechanism of the works of nature to the blind and fortuitous motion of some particles of matter? 1686 R. Boyle Free Enq. Notion Nature 73 I shall express, what I call'd General Nature, by Cosmical Mechanism, that is, a Comprisal of all the Mechanical Affections (Figure, Size, Motion, &c.) that belong to the matter of the great System of the Universe. 1722 W. Wollaston Relig. of Nature v. 100 He..knows the make of their bodies, and all the mechanism and propensions of them. 1776 G. Campbell Philos. of Rhetoric I. i. xi. 288 The wonderful mechanism of our mental frame. 1854 D. Brewster More Worlds xvii. 256 The wonderful mechanisms of animal and vegetable life. 1855 A. Bain Senses & Intellect i. i. 67 The mechanism or anatomy of movement in the animal frame. 1862 C. Darwin On Var. Contrivances Orchids Fertilised iii. 100 The mechanism of the flower. 1867 M. E. Herbert Cradle Lands iii. 96 The door was a marvel of mechanism. 1965 Listener 2 Sept. 332/2 The conceptions of molecular codes, and the chemical storage of information..have stimulated fascinating speculations about the mechanism of memory and the mystery of dreams. †b. More generally: the interconnection of parts in any complex process, pattern, or arrangement. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > [noun] > a structure machine1545 framework1578 compact1600 fabrication1602 machination1605 compound1607 structure1612 compilement1624 fabric1633 contignation1635 artifice1700 mechanism1712 creel1788 composition1793 arrangement1800 1712 Spectator No. 518. ⁋8 The Contour of his Person, the Mechanism of his Dress, [etc.]. 1715 J. T. Desaguliers tr. N. Gauger Fires Improv'd 154 The whole Mechanism of it [sc. a chimney] will be easily understood by a sight of the Figures. 1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Mechanism,..2. Construction of parts depending on each other in any complicated fabrick. 1770 T. Percy tr. P. H. Mallet Northern Antiq. II. 191 A small Treatise on the Construction and Mechanism of the Gothic or Icelandic Metre. 2. a. A system of mutually adapted parts working together in a machine or in a manner analogous to that of a machine; a piece of machinery. Also: machinery, mechanical appliances. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > [noun] trama1400 ginc1400 pageant1519 engine1581 machination1605 machina1612 machine1659 mechanism1665 contrivance1667 gimcrack1772 plant1925 power1942 society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > mechanism > [noun] mechanic1605 mechanism1758 machinery1803 mechanicism1856 action1864 1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 170 Its Mechanism consists principally in two parts, that is, first its two Claws,..and secondly, two Palms. a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) i. ii. 48 That Opinion that depresseth the natures of sensible Creatures below their just value..rendring them no more but barely Mechanisms or Artificial Engins. 1758 A. Reid tr. P. J. Macquer Elements Theory & Pract. Chym. I. 129 This is brought about by a mechanism to which we are strangers. 1777 W. Mason Epist. Dr. Shebbeare 17 (note) As Mr. Cox's automata were very much in the Chinese taste, [he] was very curious to discover their mechanism. 1802 W. Paley Nat. Theol. xxiii. 447 Mechanism is not itself power. Mechanism, without power, can do nothing. 1814 D. Stewart Elem. Philos. Human Mind II. ii. §2. 143 The wonderful mechanism of speech. 1822 J. Imison Elem. Sci. & Art I. 94 The part of the mechanism of a watch which shows the hour of the day. 1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. 9 809 The vascular dilatation must be considered as the result of the morbid condition of the mechanism of the circulation. 1913 J. S. Haldane Mechanism, Life & Personality i. 9 Descartes, in his writings about the nervous system,..suggested nervous mechanisms. 1939 E. D. Laborde tr. E. de Martonne Shorter Physical Geogr. (rev. ed.) 2 The meteorologist analyses the mechanism of climate. 1973 A. d'A. Bellairs & J. F. D. Frazer Smith's Brit. Amphibians & Reptiles (ed. 5) v. 164 Kinesis and streptostylism..form the basis for the mechanism of fang erection in the vipers and their allies. 1984 C. James Flying Visits 2 Those old piston-engined airliners would have fascinated me even had they never left the ground, but the thought of such beautiful mechanisms actually travelling through the sky was almost too much to take. 1993 Atlantic Monthly Oct. 40/1 As winds change, a computer orders hydraulic mechanisms to change the pitch of the blades. b. spec. in a musical instrument. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > [noun] > mechanism mechanism1834 piano action1853 pianoforte action1856 key action1857 1834 New Eng. Mag. Jan. 28 There was then but little acquaintance with the internal mechanism of musical instruments of this kind [sc. piano-fortes] in Boston. 1849 Brit. Patent 12,378 (1857) 2 My invention consists of so arranging the mechanism of a flute that the closing of the C sharp and the B natural holes may be simultaneous by the action of the second finger. 1876 J. Stainer & W. A. Barrett Dict. Musical Terms 283/2 Mechanism, that part of an instrument which forms the connection between the player and the sound-producing portion. 1938 Oxf. Compan. Music 625/1 All these instruments possessing the double reed and the conical bore, their differences are only of detail, especially in a progressive refinement of tone and improvement of mechanism. 1961 T. Dart in A. C. Baines Musical Instruments through Ages iii. 68 For more than four hundred years the clavichord held a place of honour among keyboard instruments... Its mechanism is very simple. 1975 S. Marcuse Musical Instruments (rev. ed.) 122/1 Contrabasses [sc. clarinets] were generally made of metal, Fr[ench] ones being fitted with the Boehm mechanism. c. An ordered sequence of events involved in a biological, chemical or physical process; (Chemistry) the steps making up a chemical reaction, frequently described in terms of the transfer and sharing of bonding electrons. ΚΠ 1848 W. H. Walshe in Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. IV. 100/2 This is a most plausible and clear view of the chemical mechanism of sugar disease. 1909 G. N. Calkins Protozoölogy (1910) i. 29 Bodies closely associated with the mechanism of nuclear division and of locomotion. 1927 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 49 2451 These new facts make possible a better conception of the mechanism of the photochemical decomposition of ammonia. 1939 N. Bohr & J. A. Wheeler in Physical Rev. 56 426 On the basis of the liquid drop model of atomic nuclei, an account is given of the mechanism of nuclear fission. 1955 A. C. Chamberlain Aspects of Trav. & Deposition of Aerosol & Vapour Clouds (A.E.R.E. Doc. HP/R 1261) 2 The four mechanisms by which aerosol particles and vapours are removed from the atmosphere, namely: (a) Sedimentation, (b) Impaction, (c) Diffusion.., (d) Wash out by rain. 1972 R. A. Jackson Mechanism i. 1 To understand completely the mechanism of an organic reaction, we require to know as a function of time the precise positions of the atoms in the reactant molecules as they are converted into products via any possible intermediates. 1999 New Scientist 3 July 85/1 (advt.) The project will employ biochemical and genetic approaches to investigate the molecular mechanism of the frameshift process. d. Mechanics. A kinematic chain of which one link is fixed or stationary. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > other parts > [noun] > other specific parts armOE button?1561 running gear1663 relax1676 collar1678 drumhead1698 long arm1717 drum1744 press cloth1745 head1785 absorber1789 bearing plate1794 crown1796 rhodings1805 press box1825 alternator1829 cushion1832 saw tooth1835 shoe1837 keyboard1839 returner1839 cross-head1844 channel shoe1845 baster1846 water port1864 shifter1869 magazine1873 entry port1874 upsetter1875 mechanism1876 tapper1876 tension bar1879 buttonholer1882 take-up1884 auger1886 instrument panel1897 balancer1904 torsion bar1937 powerhead1960 1876 A. B. W. Kennedy tr. F. Reuleaux Kinematics of Machinery 47 A closed kinematic chain, of which one link is thus made stationary, is called a mechanism. 1915 R. F. McKay Theory of Machines viii. 92 When one of the links of the kinematic chain is fixed, the chain is called a mechanism. When the mechanism transmits force..it is called a machine. 1946 L. Toft & A. T. J. Kersey Theory of Machines (ed. 5) iv. 89 When one of the links of a kinematic chain is fixed, the chain becomes a mechanism, and if the mechanism performs the functions described in Art. 1 it is a machine. 1995 Robotica 13 507 The kinematic structure of closed chain mechanisms. e. Psychology. An unconscious, structured set of mental processes underlying a person's behaviour or responses.defence mechanism: see the first element. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > psychology > mental action or process > [noun] > mechanism of mechanism1876 1876 Mind 1 138 How abstruse, complicated, and difficult to follow in its details and applications the Herbartist theory of mind as a ‘psychological mechanism’ is. 1885 E. Hamilton & E. E. C. Jones tr. H. Lotze Microcosmus I. ii. iv. 232 The mind is not content to have connections of ideas imposed on it by the mechanism of perception and memory. 1921 H. C. Miller New Psychol. & Teacher 161 This mental mechanism [sc. the complex] lies at the root of all bias, all injustice, and all inability to think clearly. 1929 K. S. Lashley (title) Brain mechanisms and intelligence. 1941 Psychosomatic Med. July 227/1 The adaptive mechanisms by means of which the organism strives to achieve this goal. 1941 Psychosomatic Med. July 233/1 By ‘cognitive field’ or ‘practical insight’ we mean a mechanism capable of registering and integrating stimuli. 1964 C. N. Cofer & M. H. Appley Motivation xi. 573 Conceptions of learned drive basically assert that responses which produce strong stimuli are the mechanisms of such drives. 1979 H. Segal Klein viii. 102 Introjection and projection are fundamental mental mechanisms existing from birth and continuing throughout life. 1991 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 114 677/1 This reflected his [sc. Freud's] growing belief that phobias had their roots, as with hysteria, in psychological mechanisms. f. gen. A means by which an effect or result is produced. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > (a) means keyOE toolc1000 wherewithc1230 ministerc1380 meanc1390 instrumenta1425 organ?a1425 mesne1447 moyen1449 handlec1450 hackneya1500 receipta1500 operative1526 ingine1531 appliance1555 agent1579 matter1580 mids1581 wedge1581 wherewithal1583 shoeing-horn1587 engine1589 instrumental1598 Roaring Meg1598 procurement1601 organy1605 vehicle1615 vehiculuma1617 executioner1646 facility1652 operatory1660 instrumentality1663 expedient1665 agency1684 bladea1713 mechanic1924 mechanism1924 1924 Brit. Weekly 28 Aug. 471/3 He will see strange recesses in human personality and unsuspected mechanisms fashioning religious beliefs. 1966 J. F. Pickering Resale Price Maintenance i. 15 In a number of trades r.p.m. was enforced privately through the mechanism of the relevant trade association. 1972 Physics Bull. Mar. 141/1 Some mechanism must be found for judging the quality of the work done by the chief scientist and the controller. 1996 Population Stud. 50 239 The effectiveness of the ‘old moral order’ as a mechanism of social control over individuals explains a substantial amount of the variation in fertility within many traditional societies. †3. Mechanical action; action according to the laws of mechanics. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > necessity > [noun] > natural necessity > action according to mechanical laws mechanism1671 1671 Bp. S. Parker Def. Eccl. Politie 342 The Philosophy of a Phanatick being as intelligible by the Laws of Mechanism, as the Motion of the Heart, and Circulation of the Bloud. 1692 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. iii. 32 He acknowledges nothing besides Matter and Motion; so that all that he can conceive to be transmitted hither from the Stars, must needs be perform'd either by Mechanism or Accident. 1704 J. Norris Ess. Ideal World II. ii. 90 The most that use them [sc. movements] are utterly ignorant of the laws of mechanism and yet order their footing as artificially as the most skilful. 1731 J. Arbuthnot Ess. Nature Aliments ii. 16 After the Chyle has pass'd through the Lungs, Nature continues her usual Mechanism to convert it into Animal Substances. 1749 D. Hartley Observ. Man i. iv. 500 The Mechanism or Necessity of human Actions, in Opposition to what is generally termed Free-will. 1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature IV. 5 Mechanism has become a learned word. But, does it mean any more than that one particle of matter is impelled by another,..and that still by another, until we come to the particle first moved? 1813 H. Cowley Bay in Turkey ii. i, in Wks. 263 Your men..seem but Statues made to walk by mechanism! 4. Philosophy. The opinion or doctrine that all natural (esp. biological or mental) phenomena can be explained with reference to mechanical or chemical processes.Associated esp. with Descartes (1596–1650). Cf. mechanicalism n. 1a, mechanicism n. 3. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > theoretical scientific philosophy > [noun] > mechanism or mechanistic theory mechanism1690 mechanicism1867 mechanicalism1892 mechanicalism1893 1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding i. iii. 22 Thereby making Men no other than bare Machins... And upon that ground, they must necessarily reject all Principles of Vertue, who cannot put Morality and Mechanism together. 1777 J. Priestley Matter & Spirit (1782) I. Introd. 5 Mechanism is the undoubted consequence of materialism. 1849 Amer. Whig Rev. June 582/1 Thought cannot belong to the province of animal sensations, nor be explained by them, neither can sensations be resolved into the movements of insensible matter, nor be explained by the laws of ordinary mechanism. 1902 J. M. Baldwin Dict. Philos. & Psychol. II. 59/1 In biology: mechanism is opposed to vitalism, and in more recent controversy to neo-vitalism. 1909 W. R. Sorley Interpr. Evol. 24 ‘The organization of nature’, says Kant, ‘has in it nothing analogous to any causality we know.’ It is not mechanism; nor, again, is it finalism. 1956 O. L. Zangwill in A. Pryce-Jones New Outl. Mod. Knowl. 170 Mechanism has sought to account for all behaviour in terms of the quasi-automatic activities of the central nervous system. 1984 D. Cupitt Sea of Faith i. 31 The shift, then, is from myths to maths, from animism to mechanism. II. Extended uses. †5. A contrivance, a trick; trickery, falsehood. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > (a) means > available means or a resource > a device, contrivance, or expedient costOE craftOE custc1275 ginc1275 devicec1290 enginec1300 quaintisec1300 contrevurec1330 castc1340 knackc1369 findinga1382 wilea1400 conject14.. skiftc1400 policy?1406 subtilityc1410 policec1450 conjecturea1464 industry1477 invention1516 cunning1526 shift1530 compass1540 chevisance1548 trade1550 tour1558 fashion1562 invent?1567 expediment1571 trick1573 ingeny1588 machine1595 lock1598 contrival1602 contrivement1611 artifice1620 recipea1643 ingenuity1651 expedient1653 contrivance1661 excogitation1664 mechanism1669 expediency1683 stroke1699 spell1728 management1736 manoeuvre1769 move1794 wrinkle1817 dodge1842 jigamaree1847 quiff1881 kink1889 lurk1916 gadget1920 fastie1931 ploy1940 1669 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 4 904 'Tis true indeed, it may be done..by tryals and profers; as, who cannot in that manner divide an Arch into three Equal parts? But such Mechanisms are accounted ageometrick. 1670 W. Clarke Nat. Hist. Nitre 92 It is also a pretty Mechanism in Cookery..which is this, Nitre giveth a Red Colour to Neats-Tongues, [etc.]. 1688 J. Evelyn Let. 10 Oct. in J. Gutch Collectanea Curiosa (1781) I. lxvi. 414 All their [sc. the Jesuits'] other mechanismes, and arts having fail'd them. 1730 J. Ralph Fashionable Lady ii. xv. 57 Ballad. This is the best Scene in Christendom; it shall act with any Play in Europe... Drama. Meer Mechanism, Mr. Ballad, I assure you! 1820 C. R. Maturin Melmoth I. v. 250 I tell you it was artificial;..it was all mechanism or imposture;..it was all practised with the hope of escaping from it ultimately. †6. Technical skill or artistry; technical execution. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [noun] > skill or art > skill or craftsmanship artc1300 artificialityc1535 artifice1597 craftsmanshipa1652 mechanism1710 craftmanship1829 artificership1835 craftiness1974 1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 209. ⁋2 Painting is Eloquence and Poetry in Mechanism. 1736 R. Ainsworth Thes. Linguæ Latinæ Talus..who first invented the saw..grew such an artist, that Dædalus fearing to be outdone in mechanism put him to death. 1786 R. P. Knight Acct. Worship of Priapus 139 Mercury,..the God of Art and Mechanism. 7. a. In painting, sculpture, music, etc.: the mechanical or physical execution of a work of art; technique. Opposed to style or expression. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [noun] > work of art > technique mechanism1833 1833 H. Martineau Briery Creek iv. 85 The mechanism of society thus resembles the mechanism of man's art. 1843 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters I. 94 (note) Canaletti's mechanism is wonderful. Prout's the rudest possible; but there is not a grain of feeling in the one, and there is much in the other. 1860 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters V. 281 [Teniers and Wouvermans] seem never to have painted indolently, but gave the purchaser his thorough money's worth of mechanism. 1876 J. Stainer & W. A. Barrett Dict. Musical Terms 283/2 Mechanism,..(2) The physical power of performance, as distinguished from the intellect or taste which directs it. 1978 ELH 45 523 The dichotomous catch-alls, ‘romantic’ and ‘classical’..tend to evade the essentially organic process of poetic history and, when applied to Byron and Eliot, easily obscure the mechanism of their poetry. b. The formulaic following of a set technique, etc., in order to produce desired effects. rare. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > weakness or feebleness > [noun] > mechanical quality mechanism1903 1903 Ld. Rosebery in Daily News 27 Nov. 5/5 Lord Macaulay's works..are charged now with a certain amount of mannerism and a certain amount of mechanism. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2001; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.1662
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