means A device built of moving parts that uses energy to do work, taking force or instruction in and putting useful action out.

from From Latin 'machina' — a contrivance, device, or engine — borrowed in turn from the Greek 'mēkhanē', meaning a means, an expedient, a clever trick. That same Greek root gives us 'mechanic' and even 'machination', the scheming kind of cleverness. So a machine is, etymologically, less about metal than about cunning: a problem solved by ingenuity rather than muscle. The word reached English through French ('machine') around the 16th century, first naming theatrical and military contrivances before it ever meant the steam-and-gear sort.