| 释义 |
automat|ˈɔːtəmæt|
[G., f. F. automate automate n.]
1. = automaton.
1671R. Bohun Wind 44 Air is a body so fluid, and tractable..that if it once be set a going, it as a kind of perpetuall Automat, continues the motion. 1887Blackw. Mag. Oct. 518 Such is not the action of flesh and blood..but..of some fabulous species of automat. a1930D. H. Lawrence Last Poems (1932) 186 The automat has no soul to lose.
2. A cafeteria in which food is obtained from compartments by the insertion of a coin or token. U.S.
1903Sci. Amer. 18 July 49/2 [in photograph of restaurant] Automat. 1909Webster, Automat, a café or restaurant in which orders are automatically delivered to customers, who place coins or tokens in slots. 1919F. Hurst Humoresque 48 Waldorf! You've got a fine chance. You mean the Automat, and two spoons for the ice-cream. 1921Wodehouse Jill the Reckless xiv. 208 The Automat?.. The food's quite good. You go and help yourself out of slot-machines, you know. 1951Amer. Speech Oct. 166 Probably the ‘Automat’, a self-serving institution supplying food, gave special impetus to the extension of the suffix -mat.
3. An automatic slot-machine.
1908Daily Chron. 11 Jan. 4/6 A very commendable feature has just been introduced into several German schools. Automats were placed in the courtyards, which, for a small coin, deliver hot or cold milk. 1958Times 14 July 11/5 Next month..an ‘automat’ at the station [sc. New York subway] will receive the passengers' soiled clothes and return them, spotlessly dry-cleaned, the same day. |