Machine  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

The Canard Digérateur, or Digesting Duck, was an automaton in the form of duck, created by Jacques de Vaucanson in 1739. Voltaire wrote that "without [...] the duck of Vaucanson, you have nothing to remind you of the glory of France." ("Sans...le canard de Vaucanson vous n'auriez rien qui fit ressouvenir de la gloire de la France.") This is often misquoted as "Without the shitting duck, we would have nothing to remind us of the glory of France."

Man a Machine (1747) by Julien Offray de La Mettrie (edition shown 1750)

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1. a mechanical or electrical device that performs or assists in the performance of human tasks, or is used for amusement (like a pinball machine).
2. the group that controls a political or similar organization.
3. a vehicle operated mechanically; an automobile.
4. a person who seemingly acts like a machine, a person who is very proficient at a task.

   Bruce Campbell was a "demon-killing machine" because he made quick work of killing demons.

See also

• Simple machine
• The Machine Age
• The Machine Stops