automatonn.

Brit.

/ɔːˈtɒmət(ə)n/, U.S.

/ɔˈtɑmədən/,

/ɑˈtɑmədən/,

/ɔˈtɑməˌtɑn/,

/ɑˈtɑməˌtɑn/

Inflections: Plural automata, automatons.

Forms:

α. 1600s– automaton, 1700s automata's (plural).

β. 1600s–1700s automatum.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Partly a borrowing from Greek. Etymons: Latin automatum; Greek αὐτόματον.

Etymology: < classical Latin automatum automatic contrivance and its etymon ancient Greek αὐτόματον marionette, use as noun of neuter of αὐτόματος (adjective) acting of itself, spontaneous, (of plants) growing by themselves, (of events) happening by themselves < αὐτό- auto- comb. form¹ + -ματος < the same Indo-European base as Sanskrit mata thought, considered, classical Latin -mentus (in commentus feigned), Lithuanian mintas trodden, stamped, representing a participial formation < the Indo-European base of ancient Greek μέμονα (see i-mind n.). Compare automa n., automate n., autom n.Compare the following slightly earlier attestation of ancient Greek αὐτόματον in an English context:1611 T. Coryate Crudities sig. T8^v The picture of a Gentlewoman, whose eies were contriued.., that they moued vp and down of themselues,..done by a vice which the Grecians call αὐτόματον. The Greek noun was also borrowed into other European languages, in some of these indirectly (via Latin or another language). Compare e.g. French automate automate n., Spanish autómato (1582), (now usually) autómata (1729), Portuguese autômato (1712), Italian automa , †automato (see automa n.), Dutch automaat (1813; earlier with Greek or Latin endings: †automata , plural (1552), †automaton (1558), †automatum (1769)), German Automat automat n. In plural form automata after the Greek and Latin plural forms. The plural forms automata and automatons coexist in modern English. Attempts to establish semantic guidelines for the use of the two plural forms are rare in modern usage guides; apparently the only such attempt is made in R. W. Burchfield New Fowler's Mod. Eng. Usage (ed. 3, 1998) 79/2, which states (echoing earlier statements in various editions of H. W. Fowler Mod. Eng. Usage): ‘The plural is automata when used collectively, otherwise (much less commonly) automatons ’. Several usage guides merely comment that the -s plural is more common, or that the plural form automata belongs to the learned register. Corpus evidence suggests that the -s plural is especially frequent in the transferred sense 3c.

a. A moving device having a concealed mechanism, so it appears to operate spontaneously. Frequently (and in earliest use) in figurative and similative contexts. Now chiefly historical.Originally denoting various functional instruments including clocks, watches, etc., as well as moving mechanical devices made in imitation of human beings; later (from the early 19th cent.) usually restricted to figures simulating the action of living beings and widely regarded as toys or curiosities, as clockwork statues or animals, images striking the hours on timepieces, etc.

ΚΠ

1616 W. Cornwallis Essayes Certaine Paradoxes sig. G3 The soule doth quicken and giue life to the body, the body like an Automaton, doth moue and carry it selfe and the soule.

1660 H. More Explan. Grand Myst. Godliness ii. iii. 37 God will not let the great Automaton of the Universe be so imperfect.

1742 J. T. Desaguliers tr. M. Vaucauson (title) An Account of the Mechanism of an Automaton or Image Playing on the German Flute.

1784 P. Thicknesse Speaking Figure 5 That an Automaton can be made to move the Chessmen properly, as a sagacious player,..is..utterly impossible.

?1790 J. Imison School of Arts (ed. 2) 284 Those automata..do by little interstices, or strokes, measure out long portions of time.

1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. xx. 315 Sprawling out his leg, and bending his back like an automaton.

1821 New Monthly Mag. 1 443 Archytas' flying dove..is another of the ancient automata... It was made of wood.

1859 F. C. L. Wraxall tr. J. E. Robert-Houdin Mem. I. v. 74 He gave me the automaton I was to repair.

1908 G. K. Chesterton Man who was Thursday xi. 232 They moved with a sort of dreadful and wicked woodenness, like a staring army of automatons.

1955 Times 31 Aug. 5 He had toyed with many crafts on the fringe of the theatre—scene-making, puppetry, the construction of automata.

1985 Christie's East (N.Y.) Sale Catal.: Collectibles 3 Dec. No. 153 Lady acrobat automaton,..the figure nods and turns somersaults.

2008 Guardian (Nexis) 12 Jan. (Review section) 20 An antique mechanical figure, a clockwork automaton that Hugo's father had been restoring.

b. A machine which resembles and is able to simulate the actions of a human being; humanoid robot, an android (in early use frequently in Science Fiction); (also) a machine which performs tasks usually associated with human workers.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > types of machine generally > [noun] > automatic > automaton or robot

self-mover1570

self-moving1570

automa1631

automatea1649

android1728

golem1732

automaton1922

robot1927

mechanoid1947

robotic1951

droid1952

bot1969

mecha1986

1922 M. P. Allen in Trend 21 Sept. 291/2 At the first whiff, the automaton moved hesitatingly, then faster and more oddly, in jerks, in jumps, in writhings.

1931 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 154 20/1 Iron chink—an automaton which revolutionizes fish-canning industry; completely cleans fish.

1944 C. L. Moore in Astounding Sci.-Fiction Dec. 138/2 And for one dreadful moment it was the voice of an automaton that sounded in the room, metallic, without inflection.

1969 Amer. Philos. Q. 6 74/2 An adequate description of an automaton capable of exhibiting behaviour indistinguishable from that of a human being would amount to a semantic account of interpretation of its data handling capacities.

2004 Chess Jan. 32/1 Sarah Bernhardt, world famous diva,..also liked chess and enjoyed battling ‘Ajeeb’, the chess playing automaton, when located at the Eden Museum on 24th Street in New York City.

†2. In literal sense. A being or thing having the power of spontaneous motion or self-movement. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > [noun] > self-movement > that which has

automaton1639

automat1671

1639 J. Fletcher et al. Bloody Brother iv. i. sig. G*1a^v [It] doth move alone, A true automaton.

a1797 E. Burke Hints Ess. Drama in Writings & Speeches (1997) I. 558 The perfect Drama, an automaton supported and moved without any foreign help, was formed late and gradually.

1818 New Monthly Mag. June 386/1 We should obtain an automaton, whose activity, independent of all mechanical resource and all external influence, would owe its movement to itself alone.

1851 Palladium Mar. 165 Man being the only true automaton or self-mover.

1877 F. Bowen Mod. Philos. xiv. 255 If the causes are psychical, if they are motives, then the machine is a spiritual automaton... Such automata..are..driven by causes within themselves.

3. In extended use (chiefly from sense 1).

a. A living being regarded as the sum of its physical functions, motions, or parts. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > [noun]

lichamc888

bodyeOE

earthOE

lichOE

bone houseOE

dustc1000

fleshOE

utter mana1050

bonesOE

bodiȝlichc1175

bouka1225

bellyc1275

slimec1315

corpsec1325

vesselc1360

tabernaclec1374

carrion1377

corsec1386

personc1390

claya1400

carcass1406

lump of claya1425

sensuality?a1425

corpusc1440

God's imagea1450

bulka1475

natural body1526

outward man1526

quarrons1567

blood bulk1570

skinfula1592

flesh-rind1593

clod1595

anatomy1597

veil1598

microcosm1601

machine1604

outwall1608

lay part1609

machina1612

cabinet1614

automaton1644

case1655

mud wall1662

structure1671

soul case1683

incarnation1745

personality1748

personage1785

man1830

embodiment1850

flesh-stuff1855

corporeity1865

chassis1930

soma1958

1644 K. Digby Two Treat. i. xxiii. 208 Because these partes [sc. the mover and the moved] are partes of one whole; we call the entire thing Automatum, or se mouens; or a liuing creature.

1686 R. Boyle Free Enq. Notion Nature 305 These living Automata, Human bodies.

1713 D. Bartlett in Guardian 10 Aug. 2/2 To be considered as Automata, made up of Bones and Muscles, Nerves, Arteries and Animal Spirits.

1880 T. H. Huxley Crayfish iii. 127 And such a self-adjusting machine, containing the immediate conditions of its actions within itself, is what is properly understood by an Automaton.

1908 Med. Standard Mar. 153/1 The human body..takes in crude materials in the shape of food and oxygen, and..extracts from them..the heat that warms, the energy that controls and the power that propels the living automaton.

b. An organism that functions purely involuntarily or mechanically; an animal, insect, etc., not motivated by higher consciousness or intelligence.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > [noun] > automaton

automaton1664

1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. sig. b2^v The Naturalists..having onely described..the larger..sort of Animals, as Bulls, Bears, Tygers, &c. whilst they have..pass'd by the Insectile Automata.

1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. i. 50 Consequently that themselves were but Machins and Automata.

1691 J. Ray Wisdom of God 38 Should this be true, that Beasts were Automata or Machines, they could have no sense or perception of Pleasure or Pain.

1777 J. Priestley Disquis. Matter & Spirit xviii. 235 Descartes..made the souls of brutes to be mere automata.

1837 J. S. Bushnan Philos. Instinct & Reason viii. 153 It is..erroneous to imagine that we detract from the proper rank of the lower animals by representing them..as a kind of automaton.

1898 T. Hardy Wessex Poems 166 Come we of an Automaton Unconscious of our pains? Or are we live remains Of Godhead.., brain and eye now gone?

1901 M. C. Dickerson Moths & Butterflies ii. 148 The leader may stop to nibble the leaf, or rest;..the automatons behind show no impatience.

2002 R. Porter Blood & Guts iv. 83 Bernard was no vulgar materialist... Living creatures were not automata wholly at the mercy of the external environment.

c. Now frequently with plural automatons. A human being resembling an automaton; a person who acts, or appears to act, in an inhuman, mechanical, or unemotional way.

ΘΚΠ

the world > people > person > [noun] > automaton

autom1610

automatea1751

automaton1785

martinet1853

1785 E. Sheridan Let. in Betsy Sheridan's Jrnl. (1986) ii. 72 Mrs Dexter..says the Goths in her neighbourhood had the impudence to think of your playing second to that Automaton Mrs Kennan.

1796 J. G. Stedman Narr. Exped. Surinam I. ix. 200 The whole party [of slaves] was a set of scarcely animated automatons.

1844 B. Disraeli Coningsby II. iv. xi. 155 ‘Do you think so?’ said the Princess... ‘Have these automata indeed souls?’

1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets v. 140 How could a Spartan, that automaton of the state..excel in any fine art?

1917 Mother Earth Bull. Dec. 2/2 It is well for the Revolution that her people are uncultured... That means not yet drilled into blind obedience, into automata, into cringing slaves.

1951 ‘C. S. Forester’ Randall & River of Time (U.K. ed.) xi. 167 Last night they had staggered into the village, exhausted automata; now, after sixteen hours' rest..they were lively young men again.

1966 V. Nabokov Speak, Memory (U.S. rev. ed.) xiii. 265 Ruthless, paste-faced automatons in opulent John Held trousers.

2006 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 23 Mar. a25/2 Tables surrounded by disagreeable automatons in dark coats.

4. Computing. A (real or hypothetical) machine whose responses to all permissible inputs are specified by a set of states and a set of rules for passing from one state to another.cellular, finite automaton: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

society > computing and information technology > hardware > computer > [noun] > automaton

automaton1949

finite automaton1956

1949 Science 21 Oct. 434/3 The Theory and Organization of Complicated Automata will be the subject of a series of lectures to be presented..by John von Neumann.

1951 J. von Neumann in L. A. Jeffress Cerebral Mechanisms in Behavior 15 We are very far from possessing a theory of automata which deserves that name, that is, a properly mathematical-logical theory.

1966 M. Gross in Automatic Transl. of Lang. (NATO Summer School, Venice, 1962) 130 This non-deterministic automaton is equivalent to a recognition routine that would look for one ‘most probable’ solution.

1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia II. 498/2 The class of general automata includes all-purpose, electronic digital computers the memory-storage units of which are of fixed..size.

2000 G. Ştefănescu Network Algebra viii. 224 The behaviour of automata is provided by the directed paths connecting initial states with final states.

Compounds

C1. General attributive and appositive, as automaton existence, automaton figure, automaton smile, automaton watch, etc.

ΚΠ

1769 J. Cox Descr. Piece Mechanism & Art 6 Before the bells are two Automaton figures of a man and a woman.

1822 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 1 June 3/2 Many years ago the exhibition of the automaton flute player excited the admiration and astonishment of all Europe.

1847 H. Melville Omoo lxxii. 278 Heavens! my head's all wheels and springs, like the automaton chess-player!

1883 O. Schreiner Story Afr. Farm (new ed.) ii. ii. 325 He smiled his automaton smile, and rebuttoned the bag.

1914 C. Hamilton Blindness of Virtue (new ed.) iv. 48 Endowed with a faculty for make-believe.., she instantly built up round her automaton husband a wonderful romance.

1945 P. White Let. 24 Oct. (1994) iii. 63 I can think of nothing more exhilarating..than escape from the Service and the automaton existence..one has led for so long.

1970 Canad. Antiques Collector Apr. 21/2 Mechanically similar to automaton watches, and just as fascinating to the novice,..are automaton clocks.

1980 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 30 Aug. There seemed to be no communication [between the band members], just the..synchronized, automaton movement through section after section of their involved pieces.

2006 Wired Jan. 125/4 Czech author Karel Capek coined the term robot in his 1920 play about automaton factory workers.

C2.

automata theory n. Computing the study of formally defined automata (in sense 4).

ΘΚΠ

society > computing and information technology > hardware > computer > [noun] > automaton > study of

automata theory1956

1956 C. E. Shannon & J. McCarthy Automata Stud. p. vi The present volume is a collection of papers which deal with various aspects of automata theory.

1964 Information & Control 7 485 (title) Pair algebra and its application to automata theory.

1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia II. 497/2 Original work on the neurophysiological aspect of automata theory was done by Warren S. McCulloch and Walter Pitts..starting in the 1940s.

2002 T. Haigh in U. Hashagen et al. Hist. Computing i. 62 In general an early concern with automata theory gave way to a later focus on algorithmics.

Derivatives

auˈtomaton-like adv. and adj.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > intention > unintentional or unplanned character > [adjective] > unintentional or involuntary > without intention > automatic or mechanical

mechanical1607

mechanized1740

automaton-like1770

automatic1821

clockworky1864

mechanicized1877

society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > types of machine generally > [adjective] > automatic > robotic

automatic1686

automaton-like1770

robotic1929

robotical1942

mechanoid1954

1770 T. Jefferson Corr. in Wks. (1859) I. 194 Your periagua..will meet us, automaton-like, of its own accord.

1812 T. B. Johnson Impartial Hist. Europe III. xix. 548 They continued their route..although the change which had taken place..must have rendered this automaton-like method, glaringly absurd.

1866 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighbourhood xxvi. 451 Her lips, with automaton-like movement, uttered the words.

1921 Everybody's Mag. July 173/1 He advanced, automaton-like, to the center of the room.

1995 B. Sheldon Cognitive-behavioural Therapy i. 27 Distant, automaton-like behaviour is unlikely to sustain co-operation.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

单词	automaton
释义	automatonn. Brit. /ɔːˈtɒmət(ə)n/, U.S. /ɔˈtɑmədən/, /ɑˈtɑmədən/, /ɔˈtɑməˌtɑn/, /ɑˈtɑməˌtɑn/ Inflections: Plural automata, automatons. Forms: α. 1600s– automaton, 1700s automata's (plural). β. 1600s–1700s automatum. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Partly a borrowing from Greek. Etymons: Latin automatum; Greek αὐτόματον. Etymology: < classical Latin automatum automatic contrivance and its etymon ancient Greek αὐτόματον marionette, use as noun of neuter of αὐτόματος (adjective) acting of itself, spontaneous, (of plants) growing by themselves, (of events) happening by themselves < αὐτό- auto- comb. form¹ + -ματος < the same Indo-European base as Sanskrit mata thought, considered, classical Latin -mentus (in commentus feigned), Lithuanian mintas trodden, stamped, representing a participial formation < the Indo-European base of ancient Greek μέμονα (see i-mind n.). Compare automa n., automate n., autom n.Compare the following slightly earlier attestation of ancient Greek αὐτόματον in an English context:1611 T. Coryate Crudities sig. T8^v The picture of a Gentlewoman, whose eies were contriued.., that they moued vp and down of themselues,..done by a vice which the Grecians call αὐτόματον. The Greek noun was also borrowed into other European languages, in some of these indirectly (via Latin or another language). Compare e.g. French automate automate n., Spanish autómato (1582), (now usually) autómata (1729), Portuguese autômato (1712), Italian automa , †automato (see automa n.), Dutch automaat (1813; earlier with Greek or Latin endings: †automata , plural (1552), †automaton (1558), †automatum (1769)), German Automat automat n. In plural form automata after the Greek and Latin plural forms. The plural forms automata and automatons coexist in modern English. Attempts to establish semantic guidelines for the use of the two plural forms are rare in modern usage guides; apparently the only such attempt is made in R. W. Burchfield New Fowler's Mod. Eng. Usage (ed. 3, 1998) 79/2, which states (echoing earlier statements in various editions of H. W. Fowler Mod. Eng. Usage): ‘The plural is automata when used collectively, otherwise (much less commonly) automatons ’. Several usage guides merely comment that the -s plural is more common, or that the plural form automata belongs to the learned register. Corpus evidence suggests that the -s plural is especially frequent in the transferred sense 3c. 1. a. A moving device having a concealed mechanism, so it appears to operate spontaneously. Frequently (and in earliest use) in figurative and similative contexts. Now chiefly historical.Originally denoting various functional instruments including clocks, watches, etc., as well as moving mechanical devices made in imitation of human beings; later (from the early 19th cent.) usually restricted to figures simulating the action of living beings and widely regarded as toys or curiosities, as clockwork statues or animals, images striking the hours on timepieces, etc. ΚΠ 1616 W. Cornwallis Essayes Certaine Paradoxes sig. G3 The soule doth quicken and giue life to the body, the body like an Automaton, doth moue and carry it selfe and the soule. 1660 H. More Explan. Grand Myst. Godliness ii. iii. 37 God will not let the great Automaton of the Universe be so imperfect. 1742 J. T. Desaguliers tr. M. Vaucauson (title) An Account of the Mechanism of an Automaton or Image Playing on the German Flute. 1784 P. Thicknesse Speaking Figure 5 That an Automaton can be made to move the Chessmen properly, as a sagacious player,..is..utterly impossible. ?1790 J. Imison School of Arts (ed. 2) 284 Those automata..do by little interstices, or strokes, measure out long portions of time. 1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. xx. 315 Sprawling out his leg, and bending his back like an automaton. 1821 New Monthly Mag. 1 443 Archytas' flying dove..is another of the ancient automata... It was made of wood. 1859 F. C. L. Wraxall tr. J. E. Robert-Houdin Mem. I. v. 74 He gave me the automaton I was to repair. 1908 G. K. Chesterton Man who was Thursday xi. 232 They moved with a sort of dreadful and wicked woodenness, like a staring army of automatons. 1955 Times 31 Aug. 5 He had toyed with many crafts on the fringe of the theatre—scene-making, puppetry, the construction of automata. 1985 Christie's East (N.Y.) Sale Catal.: Collectibles 3 Dec. No. 153 Lady acrobat automaton,..the figure nods and turns somersaults. 2008 Guardian (Nexis) 12 Jan. (Review section) 20 An antique mechanical figure, a clockwork automaton that Hugo's father had been restoring. b. A machine which resembles and is able to simulate the actions of a human being; humanoid robot, an android (in early use frequently in Science Fiction); (also) a machine which performs tasks usually associated with human workers. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > types of machine generally > [noun] > automatic > automaton or robot self-mover1570 self-moving1570 automa1631 automatea1649 android1728 golem1732 automaton1922 robot1927 mechanoid1947 robotic1951 droid1952 bot1969 mecha1986 1922 M. P. Allen in Trend 21 Sept. 291/2 At the first whiff, the automaton moved hesitatingly, then faster and more oddly, in jerks, in jumps, in writhings. 1931 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 154 20/1 Iron chink—an automaton which revolutionizes fish-canning industry; completely cleans fish. 1944 C. L. Moore in Astounding Sci.-Fiction Dec. 138/2 And for one dreadful moment it was the voice of an automaton that sounded in the room, metallic, without inflection. 1969 Amer. Philos. Q. 6 74/2 An adequate description of an automaton capable of exhibiting behaviour indistinguishable from that of a human being would amount to a semantic account of interpretation of its data handling capacities. 2004 Chess Jan. 32/1 Sarah Bernhardt, world famous diva,..also liked chess and enjoyed battling ‘Ajeeb’, the chess playing automaton, when located at the Eden Museum on 24th Street in New York City. †2. In literal sense. A being or thing having the power of spontaneous motion or self-movement. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > [noun] > self-movement > that which has automaton1639 automat1671 1639 J. Fletcher et al. Bloody Brother iv. i. sig. G1a^v [It] doth move alone, A true automaton. a1797 E. Burke Hints Ess. Drama* in Writings & Speeches (1997) I. 558 The perfect Drama, an automaton supported and moved without any foreign help, was formed late and gradually. 1818 New Monthly Mag. June 386/1 We should obtain an automaton, whose activity, independent of all mechanical resource and all external influence, would owe its movement to itself alone. 1851 Palladium Mar. 165 Man being the only true automaton or self-mover. 1877 F. Bowen Mod. Philos. xiv. 255 If the causes are psychical, if they are motives, then the machine is a spiritual automaton... Such automata..are..driven by causes within themselves. 3. In extended use (chiefly from sense 1). a. A living being regarded as the sum of its physical functions, motions, or parts. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > life > the body > [noun] lichamc888 bodyeOE earthOE lichOE bone houseOE dustc1000 fleshOE utter mana1050 bonesOE bodiȝlichc1175 bouka1225 bellyc1275 slimec1315 corpsec1325 vesselc1360 tabernaclec1374 carrion1377 corsec1386 personc1390 claya1400 carcass1406 lump of claya1425 sensuality?a1425 corpusc1440 God's imagea1450 bulka1475 natural body1526 outward man1526 quarrons1567 blood bulk1570 skinfula1592 flesh-rind1593 clod1595 anatomy1597 veil1598 microcosm1601 machine1604 outwall1608 lay part1609 machina1612 cabinet1614 automaton1644 case1655 mud wall1662 structure1671 soul case1683 incarnation1745 personality1748 personage1785 man1830 embodiment1850 flesh-stuff1855 corporeity1865 chassis1930 soma1958 1644 K. Digby Two Treat. i. xxiii. 208 Because these partes [sc. the mover and the moved] are partes of one whole; we call the entire thing Automatum, or se mouens; or a liuing creature. 1686 R. Boyle Free Enq. Notion Nature 305 These living Automata, Human bodies. 1713 D. Bartlett in Guardian 10 Aug. 2/2 To be considered as Automata, made up of Bones and Muscles, Nerves, Arteries and Animal Spirits. 1880 T. H. Huxley Crayfish iii. 127 And such a self-adjusting machine, containing the immediate conditions of its actions within itself, is what is properly understood by an Automaton. 1908 Med. Standard Mar. 153/1 The human body..takes in crude materials in the shape of food and oxygen, and..extracts from them..the heat that warms, the energy that controls and the power that propels the living automaton. b. An organism that functions purely involuntarily or mechanically; an animal, insect, etc., not motivated by higher consciousness or intelligence. ΘΚΠ the world > life > [noun] > automaton automaton1664 1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. sig. b2^v The Naturalists..having onely described..the larger..sort of Animals, as Bulls, Bears, Tygers, &c. whilst they have..pass'd by the Insectile Automata. 1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. i. 50 Consequently that themselves were but Machins and Automata. 1691 J. Ray Wisdom of God 38 Should this be true, that Beasts were Automata or Machines, they could have no sense or perception of Pleasure or Pain. 1777 J. Priestley Disquis. Matter & Spirit xviii. 235 Descartes..made the souls of brutes to be mere automata. 1837 J. S. Bushnan Philos. Instinct & Reason viii. 153 It is..erroneous to imagine that we detract from the proper rank of the lower animals by representing them..as a kind of automaton. 1898 T. Hardy Wessex Poems 166 Come we of an Automaton Unconscious of our pains? Or are we live remains Of Godhead.., brain and eye now gone? 1901 M. C. Dickerson Moths & Butterflies ii. 148 The leader may stop to nibble the leaf, or rest;..the automatons behind show no impatience. 2002 R. Porter Blood & Guts iv. 83 Bernard was no vulgar materialist... Living creatures were not automata wholly at the mercy of the external environment. c. Now frequently with plural automatons. A human being resembling an automaton; a person who acts, or appears to act, in an inhuman, mechanical, or unemotional way. ΘΚΠ the world > people > person > [noun] > automaton autom1610 automatea1751 automaton1785 martinet1853 1785 E. Sheridan Let. in Betsy Sheridan's Jrnl. (1986) ii. 72 Mrs Dexter..says the Goths in her neighbourhood had the impudence to think of your playing second to that Automaton Mrs Kennan. 1796 J. G. Stedman Narr. Exped. Surinam I. ix. 200 The whole party [of slaves] was a set of scarcely animated automatons. 1844 B. Disraeli Coningsby II. iv. xi. 155 ‘Do you think so?’ said the Princess... ‘Have these automata indeed souls?’ 1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets v. 140 How could a Spartan, that automaton of the state..excel in any fine art? 1917 Mother Earth Bull. Dec. 2/2 It is well for the Revolution that her people are uncultured... That means not yet drilled into blind obedience, into automata, into cringing slaves. 1951 ‘C. S. Forester’ Randall & River of Time (U.K. ed.) xi. 167 Last night they had staggered into the village, exhausted automata; now, after sixteen hours' rest..they were lively young men again. 1966 V. Nabokov Speak, Memory (U.S. rev. ed.) xiii. 265 Ruthless, paste-faced automatons in opulent John Held trousers. 2006 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 23 Mar. a25/2 Tables surrounded by disagreeable automatons in dark coats. 4. Computing. A (real or hypothetical) machine whose responses to all permissible inputs are specified by a set of states and a set of rules for passing from one state to another.cellular, finite automaton: see the first element. ΘΚΠ society > computing and information technology > hardware > computer > [noun] > automaton automaton1949 finite automaton1956 1949 Science 21 Oct. 434/3 The Theory and Organization of Complicated Automata will be the subject of a series of lectures to be presented..by John von Neumann. 1951 J. von Neumann in L. A. Jeffress Cerebral Mechanisms in Behavior 15 We are very far from possessing a theory of automata which deserves that name, that is, a properly mathematical-logical theory. 1966 M. Gross in Automatic Transl. of Lang. (NATO Summer School, Venice, 1962) 130 This non-deterministic automaton is equivalent to a recognition routine that would look for one ‘most probable’ solution. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia II. 498/2 The class of general automata includes all-purpose, electronic digital computers the memory-storage units of which are of fixed..size. 2000 G. Ştefănescu Network Algebra viii. 224 The behaviour of automata is provided by the directed paths connecting initial states with final states. Compounds C1. General attributive and appositive, as automaton existence, automaton figure, automaton smile, automaton watch, etc. ΚΠ 1769 J. Cox Descr. Piece Mechanism & Art 6 Before the bells are two Automaton figures of a man and a woman. 1822 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 1 June 3/2 Many years ago the exhibition of the automaton flute player excited the admiration and astonishment of all Europe. 1847 H. Melville Omoo lxxii. 278 Heavens! my head's all wheels and springs, like the automaton chess-player! 1883 O. Schreiner Story Afr. Farm (new ed.) ii. ii. 325 He smiled his automaton smile, and rebuttoned the bag. 1914 C. Hamilton Blindness of Virtue (new ed.) iv. 48 Endowed with a faculty for make-believe.., she instantly built up round her automaton husband a wonderful romance. 1945 P. White Let. 24 Oct. (1994) iii. 63 I can think of nothing more exhilarating..than escape from the Service and the automaton existence..one has led for so long. 1970 Canad. Antiques Collector Apr. 21/2 Mechanically similar to automaton watches, and just as fascinating to the novice,..are automaton clocks. 1980 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 30 Aug. There seemed to be no communication [between the band members], just the..synchronized, automaton movement through section after section of their involved pieces. 2006 Wired Jan. 125/4 Czech author Karel Capek coined the term robot in his 1920 play about automaton factory workers. C2. automata theory n. Computing the study of formally defined automata (in sense 4). ΘΚΠ society > computing and information technology > hardware > computer > [noun] > automaton > study of automata theory1956 1956 C. E. Shannon & J. McCarthy Automata Stud. p. vi The present volume is a collection of papers which deal with various aspects of automata theory. 1964 Information & Control 7 485 (title) Pair algebra and its application to automata theory. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia II. 497/2 Original work on the neurophysiological aspect of automata theory was done by Warren S. McCulloch and Walter Pitts..starting in the 1940s. 2002 T. Haigh in U. Hashagen et al. Hist. Computing i. 62 In general an early concern with automata theory gave way to a later focus on algorithmics. Derivatives auˈtomaton-like adv. and adj. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > intention > unintentional or unplanned character > [adjective] > unintentional or involuntary > without intention > automatic or mechanical mechanical1607 mechanized1740 automaton-like1770 automatic1821 clockworky1864 mechanicized1877 society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > types of machine generally > [adjective] > automatic > robotic automatic1686 automaton-like1770 robotic1929 robotical1942 mechanoid1954 1770 T. Jefferson Corr. in Wks. (1859) I. 194 Your periagua..will meet us, automaton-like, of its own accord. 1812 T. B. Johnson Impartial Hist. Europe III. xix. 548 They continued their route..although the change which had taken place..must have rendered this automaton-like method, glaringly absurd. 1866 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighbourhood xxvi. 451 Her lips, with automaton-like movement, uttered the words. 1921 Everybody's Mag. July 173/1 He advanced, automaton-like, to the center of the room. 1995 B. Sheldon Cognitive-behavioural Therapy i. 27 Distant, automaton-like behaviour is unlikely to sustain co-operation. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.1616
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