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Mechanism   /mˈɛkənˌɪzəm/   Listen
Mechanism

noun
1.
The atomic process that occurs during a chemical reaction.  Synonym: chemical mechanism.
2.
The technical aspects of doing something.  Synonym: mechanics.  "Mechanisms of communication" , "The mechanics of prose style"
3.
A natural object resembling a machine in structure or function.  "The mechanism of infection"
4.
(philosophy) the philosophical theory that all phenomena can be explained in terms of physical or biological causes.
5.
Device consisting of a piece of machinery; has moving parts that perform some function.



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"Mechanism" Quotes from Famous Books



... been known to entangle himself in the little swing window, and to hang there all the night, sending forth unearthly caterwaulings, to the unspeakable terror of Miss Wendover's guest, unfamiliar with the mechanism of the room, and wondering what breed of Hampshire demon or afrit was thus making ...
— The Golden Calf • M. E. Braddon

... type-setting machine, which he was paying the inventor a salary to bring to a perfection so expensive that it was practically impracticable. We were both printers by trade, and I could take the same interest in this wonderful piece of mechanism that he could; and it was so truly wonderful that it did everything but walk and talk. Its ingenious creator was so bent upon realizing the highest ideal in it that he produced a machine of quite unimpeachable efficiency. But it was so costly, when finished, that ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... concerning possible damages. So, without pause, the automobile shot forward past mill and store, and went clambering along the trail toward the northern coves. The driver ran cautiously enough, despite Zeke's impatience, but, at the best, the trip was a strain on the men and on the mechanism that bore them, for the car lurched and bounced over the uneven surface, and more than once was near to being overturned. Their ultimate safety was due, in great measure, to Zeke himself. Familiar with every ...
— Heart of the Blue Ridge • Waldron Baily

... and discreet use of it, encourage me ere I quit this world, to entrust you with the grand arcanum of our art; as yet, you know not the secret of my success, but take then this hint and improve upon it. Can he repair a piece of mechanism, who is ignorant of its make, its parts, and how they act upon, and affect one another? Behold this key; it is that of my laboratory, and may it indeed open the door of knowledge ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. - Volume 19, No. 531, Saturday, January 28, 1832. • Various

... whole history of mankind were unfolded I cannot doubt that there have been many like it. Let my reader suspend his judgment until he has read the paper I have referred to, which was drawn up by a Committee of the Royal Academy of the Biological Sciences. In this paper the mechanism of the series of nervous derangements to which I have been subject since the fatal shock experienced in my infancy is explained in language not hard to understand. It will be seen that such a change of polarity in the nervous ...
— A Mortal Antipathy • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.


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