AUTOMATON

Automaton

An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word "automaton" is the latinization of the Greek, automaton, "acting of one’s own will". This word was first used by Homer to describe automatic door opening, or automatic movement of wheeled tripods. It is more often used to describe non-electronic moving machines, especially those that have been made to resemble human or animal actions, such as the jacks on old public striking clocks, or the cuckoo and any other animated figures on a cuckoo clock.

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automaton

Noun

  1. A machine or robot designed to follow a precise sequence of instructions.
  2. A person who acts like a machine or robot, often defined as having a monotonous lifestyle and lacking in emotion.
    Due to her strict adherence to her daily schedule, Jessica was becoming more and more convinced that she was an automaton.
    A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for a second, that second for a third, and so on 'til the bulk of the society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery, to have no sensibilities left but for sinning and suffering. - Thomas Jefferson
  3. A formal system, such as finite automaton.
  4. A toy in the form of a mechanical figure.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: automaton
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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