mechanical
1. Pertaining to, governed by, or in accordance with, mechanics, or the laws of motion; pertaining to the quantitative relations of force and matter, as distinguished from mental, vital, chemical, etc.; as, mechanical principles; a mechanical theory; mechanical deposits.
2. Of or pertaining to a machine or to machinery or tools; made or formed by a machine or with tools; as, mechanical precision; mechanical products. We have also divers mechanical arts. (bacon)
3. Done as if by a machine; uninfluenced by will or emotion; proceeding automatically, or by habit, without special intention or reflection; as, mechanical singing; mechanical verses; mechanical service.
4. Made and operated by interaction of forces without a directing intelligence; as, a mechanical universe.
5. Obtained by trial, by measurements, etc.; approximate; empirical. See the 2d note under Geometric. Mechanical effect, effective power; useful work exerted, as by a machine, in a definite time. Mechanical engineering. See the Note under Engineering. Mechanical manoeuvres, the application of mechanical appliances to the mounting, dismounting, and moving of artillery. Mechanical philosophy, the principles of mechanics applied to the inverstigation of physical phenomena. Mechanical powers, certain simple instruments, such as the modifications (the wheel and axle and the pulley), the inclined plane with its modifications (the screw and the wedge), which convert a small force acting throught a great space into a great force acting through a small space, or vice versa, and are used separately or in combination.
(Science: mathematics) Mechanical solution, a solution of a problem by any art or contrivance not strictly geometrical, as by means of the ruler and compasses, or other instruments.
Origin: From Mechanic.
Dictionary > Mechanical
