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Device vs Machine - What's the difference?

device | machine |

In archaic terms the difference between device and machine

is that device is power of devising; invention; contrivance while machine is a vehicle operated mechanically; an automobile.

As nouns the difference between device and machine

is that device is any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one while machine is a device that directs and controls energy, often in the form of movement or electricity, to produce a certain effect.

As a verb machine is

to make by machinery.

device

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one.
  • * 1949 . Geneva Convention on Road Traffic
  • Every cycle shall be equipped with: [...] (b) an audible warning device consisting of a bell [...]
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=A better waterworks, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.}}
  • A project or scheme, often designed to deceive; a stratagem; an artifice.
  • *
  • His device is against Babylon, to destroy it.
  • *
  • He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
  • * 1827 Hallam, Henry, , Harper
  • Their recent device of demanding benevolences.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=
  • , title=Pixels or Perish, volume=100, issue=2, page=106 , magazine= citation , passage=Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.}}
  • (rhetoric) A technique that an author or speaker uses to evoke an emotional response in the audience; a rhetorical device .
  • (senseid)(heraldry) A motto, emblem, or other mark used to distinguish the bearer from others. A device differs from a badge or cognizance primarily because as it is a personal distinction, and not a badge borne by members of the same house successively.
  • * 1736 . O'Callaghan, Edmund Bailey. The Documentary History of the State of New York .
  • The devices of these savages are the serpent, the Deer, and the Small Acorn.
  • (archaic) Power of devising; invention; contrivance.
  • * 1824 . Landor, Walter Savage "King Henry IV and Sir Arnold Savage" from Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen , page 44
  • Moreover I must have instruments of mine own device , weighty, and exceeding costly
  • * 1976 . The Eagles, "Hotel California"
  • And she said,
    "We are all prisoners here,
    Of our own device "
  • (legal) An image used in whole or in part as a trademark or service mark.
  • (printing) An image or logo denoting official or proprietary authority or provenience.
  • * 1943 United States Post Office Department. A Description of United States Postage Stamps / Issued by the Post Office Department from July 1, 1847, to April 1, 1945 [sic] , USGPO, Washington, p1:
  • Prior to the issuance of the first stamps, letters accepted by postmasters for dispatch were marked "Paid" by means of pen and ink or hand stamps of various designs. [...] To facilitate the handling of mail matter, some postmasters provided special stamps or devices for use on letters as evidence of the prepayment of postage.
  • (obsolete) A spectacle or show.
  • (Beaumont and Fletcher)
  • (obsolete) Opinion; decision.
  • Synonyms

    * (piece of equipment) apparatus, appliance, equipment, gadget, design, contrivance * (project or scheme) scheme, project, stratagem, artifice * invention, contrivance

    Derived terms

    * biodevice * device driver * electronic device * framing device * intrauterine device * literary device * nondevice * peripheral device

    machine

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A device that directs and controls energy, often in the form of movement or electricity, to produce a certain effect.
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=A better waterworks, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine . Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.}}
  • (archaic) A vehicle operated mechanically; an automobile.
  • (telephony, abbreviation) An answering machine or, by extension, voice mail.
  • (computing) A computer.
  • (figuratively) A person or organisation that seemingly acts like a machine, being particularly efficient, single-minded, or unemotional.
  • Especially, the group that controls a political or similar organization; a combination of persons acting together for a common purpose, with the agencies which they use.
  • * Landor
  • The whole machine of government ought not to bear upon the people with a weight so heavy and oppressive.
  • Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced to perform some exploit.
  • (Addison)
  • (euphemistic, obsolete) Penis.
  • {{quote-Fanny Hill, part=3 , He now resumes his attempts in more form: first, he put one of the pillows under me, to give the blank of his aim a more favourable elevation, and another under my head, in ease of it; then spreading my thighs, and placing himself standing between them, made them rest upon his hips; applying then the point of his machine to the slit, into which he sought entrance.}}

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    (Derived terms) * finite state machine * jet machine * machine bolt * machine code * machinegun * machine-gun * machine gun * machine instruction * machine language * machine learning * machine-made * machine of government * machine pistol * machine-readable * machine room * machine screw * machine shop * machine tool * machine-translation * machine translation * machine-washable * pinball machine * sewing machine * simple machine * slot machine

    Verb

    (machin)
  • to make by machinery.
  • to shape or finish by machinery.
  • Derived terms

    * machinist

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----