* The term machine is most commonly applied to such pieces of mechanism as are used in the industrial arts, for mechanically shaping, dressing, and combining materials for various purposes, as in the manufacture of cloth, etc. Where the effect is chemical, or other than mechanical, the contrivance is usually denominated an apparatus, not a machine; as, a bleaching apparatus. Many large, powerful, or specially important pieces of mechanism are called engines; as, a steam engine, fire engine, graduating engine, etc. Although there is no well-settled distinction between the terms engine and machine among practical men, there is a tendency to restrict the application of the former to contrivances in which the operating part is not distinct from the motor.

The whole machine of government ought not to bear upon the people with a weight so heavy and oppressive. Landor.

Elementary machine, a name sometimes given to one of the simple mechanical powers. See under Mechanical. -- Infernal machine. See under Infernal. -- Machine gun.See under Gun. -- Machine screw, a screw or bolt adapted for screwing into metal, in distinction from one which is designed especially to be screwed into wood. -- Machine shop, a workshop where machines are made, or where metal is shaped by cutting, filing, turning, etc. -- Machine tool, a machine for cutting or shaping wood, metal, etc., by means of a tool; especially, a machine, as a lathe, planer, drilling machine, etc., designed for a more or less general use in a machine shop, in distinction from a machine for producing a special article as in manufacturing. -- Machine twist, silken thread especially adapted for use in a sewing machine. -- Machine work, work done by a machine, in contradistinction to that done by hand labor.