A device that directs and controls energy, often in the form of movement or electricity, to produce a certain effect.

(telephony, abbreviation) An answering machine or, by extension, voice mail.

(computing) A computer.

(figurative) 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.

(poetry) Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced to perform some exploit.

(politics, chiefly US) The system of special interest groups that supports a political party, especially in urban areas.

(historical) A contrivance in the Ancient Greek theatre for indicating a change of scene, by means of which a god might cross the stage or deliver a divine message; the deus ex machina.

To make by machinery.

(usually, more specifically) To shape or finish by machinery; to shape subtractively by metal-cutting with machine-controlled toolpaths.