1916 Washington Post 27 Mar. 5/5 We have never had a machine gun that is not subject to stoppage by reason of some kind of malfunction.

1939 Science 10 Mar. 226 A small per cent. of these crashes..is due to mechanical failures—engine malfunctions, breakage of some part of the plane or its essential accessories.

1941 M. M. Johnson & C. T. Haven Automatic Arms 128 The slide on an automatic pistol may fail to remain open after the last shot, due to a malfunction of the catch.

1957 New Scientist 9 May 38/2 As an ophthalmic optician I was entertained by ‘Geminus’ (25 April) on his visits to his optician and his own experiments at correcting the malfunctions of his extra-ocular muscles.

1961 New Scientist 7 Dec. 617/1 Some tiny valves in the spaceship's plumbing system failed to function properly... This malfunction has been brushed off in the newspapers.

1973 Sci. Amer. Oct. 69/3 An instrumental malfunction at the crucial time can spoil the results of months of preparation.

1991 What's New in Design Sept. 48/3 The seal, used on aircraft flap systems, has been designed to overcome flap lock out due to seal malfunction.

1941 M. M. Johnson & C. T. Haven Automatic Arms 128 The use of the term ‘malfunction’ conveys nothing unless we know what malfunctioned.

1958 Times 17 Oct. 15/2 Eyes whose tear-ducts were malfunctioning because of the absence of gravity.

1972 Daily Tel. 22 Jan. 17/2 An investigation was being made to discover why the warm-air heating system at the house..had malfunctioned.

1983 Superman 1984 38/2 The man of steel was forced to retire all his superman robots because the earth's polluted atmosphere was making them malfunction!