MECHANICAL • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Mechanical

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/məkˈænɪkəl/ Listen

adjective

Mechanical adj.

1.

Pertaining to, governed by, or in accordance with, mechanics, or the laws of motion; pertaining to the quantitative relations of force and matter on a macroscopic scale, as distinguished from mental, vital, chemical, electrical, electronic, atomic etc.; as, mechanical principles; a mechanical theory; especially, Using only the interactions of solid parts against each other; as mechanical brakes, in contrast to hydraulic brakes.

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."

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.

Mechanical philosophy, the principles of mechanics applied to the investigation 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 through 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.

noun

Mechanical n. A mechanic. (Obs.)

See images of 'Mechanical'

Etymology of 'Mechanical'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Mechanical" Quotes from Famous Books

... during this same hour, are drilled at the siege or seacoast battery. The work here is sometimes hard and sometimes not. When firing, the drill is pleasant and interesting, but when we have mechanical manoeuvres all this pleasantness vanishes. Then we have hard work. Dismounting and mounting is ...

— Henry Ossian Flipper, The Colored Cadet at West Point • Henry Ossian Flipper

... the action of a single muscle, but by the harmonious action of several. There is infinite variety in the arrangement of the muscles, each being adapted to its purpose, in strength, tenacity, or elasticity. While some involuntarily respond to the wants of organic life, others obey, with mechanical precision, the edicts of the will. The peculiar characteristic of the muscles is their contractility; for example, when the tip of the finger is placed in the ear, an incessant vibration, due to the contraction of the muscles of the ear, can be heard. When the muscles ...

— The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English • R. V. Pierce

... desk, and curtains on rods that could be drawn round it. He was a man of six or seven and thirty; with a long face, smooth shaven. He always seemed absorbed in his work and, when spoken to by Mr. Bale, answered in the fewest possible words, in an even, mechanical voice. It had seemed to Bob that he had been entirely oblivious to his presence; and it did not appear to him now, as he sat with a book before him, waiting for the clock on the mantel to strike five, that existence at Mr. Medlin's promised to be a lively one. Still, ...

— Held Fast For England - A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar (1779-83) • G. A. Henty

... of figures of saints were carved, and innumerable Madonnas painted throughout Italy, in the earlier days of the Christian church, they were either literal transcripts of common life, or mechanical copies or imitations of works furnished from the great store looms of the Asiatic Greeks. There were thousands—nay, tens of thousands of men, who wrote themselves artists, while not one of them had enough of imagination and skill to ...

— Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects, and Curiosities of Art, (Vol. 2 of 3) • Shearjashub Spooner

... clay and humus of the soil are made up of a great variety of substances. The larger part of these act simply as a mechanical support for the plants and also serve to bring about certain physical conditions. Only a very small portion of these substances serve as the direct food of plants and the chemical conditions of these substances are of ...

— The First Book of Farming • Charles L. Goodrich

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