machinery: Meaning and Definition of

ma•chin•er•y

Pronunciation: (mu-shē'nu-rē), [key]
— pl. -er•ies.
  1. an assemblage of machines or mechanical apparatuses: the machinery of a factory.
  2. the parts of a machine, collectively: the machinery of a watch.
  3. a group of people or a system by which action is maintained or by which some result is obtained: the machinery of government.
  4. a group of contrivances for producing stage effects.
  5. the group or aggregate of literary machines, esp. those of supernatural agencyin an epic poem.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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