mechanicaladj/məˈkænɪkəl/

• 1

  archaicCharacteristic of someone who does manual labour for a living; coarse, vulgar.

  • Thy Doll, and Helen of thy noble thoughts, Is in base durance and contagious prison, Haled thither by most mechanical and dirty hand.
  • all manner of silks were already become so vile and abject, that was any man seene to weare them, he was presently judged to be some countrie fellow, or mechanicall man.
• 2

  Related to mechanics (the branch of physics that deals with forces acting on matter).

  • mechanical engineering
• 3

  Related to mechanics (the design and construction of machines).

  • mechanical dictionary
• 4

  Done by machine.

  • mechanical task
• 5

  Using mechanics (the design and construction of machines): being a machine.

  • mechanical arm
• 6

  As if performed by a machine: lifeless, mindless, thoughtless, automatic.

  • a mechanical reply to a question
• 7

  Acting as if one were a machine: lifeless or mindless.

  • The pianist was too mechanical.
  • Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.
• 8

  informalHandy with machines.

  • Why don't you ask Joe to fix it? He's very mechanical.

mechanicalnoun/məˈkænɪkəl/

• 1

  advertisingbusinessmarketingManually created layout of artwork that is camera ready for photographic reproduction.

  • Since we are dealing with copy in paste-up form, we are now concerned with the preparation and assembly of elements suitable for camera-ready copy, positioned on the mechanical according to the rough layout supplied.
  • We'll start with a simple mechanical for a standard 7" x 10" ad, using one block of copy, some display type, and one picture.
• 2

  One who does manual labor, especially one who is similar to Shakespeare's rude mechanicals.

  • Rude mechanicals must know their place in a horsey army.
  • Furthermore, when the play juxtaposes aristocratic violence with artisanal civility, it shows the artisans as the social group that better embodies civility, and the mocking accusations of bestial inferiority leveled at the mechanicals by the aristrocratic characters are revealed as a hollow discourse that attempts to bolster and naturalize established privilege.
• 3

  literaturemediapublishingA robot or mechanical creature.

  • Is it a mechanical, or a man in a clockwork suit?
  • Mechanicals arose when advanced, organic societies somehow committed suicide, from war, degeneration, unimaginable things -- or retreated, from plain simple lack of interest in the tensions of the technological life.
• 4

  engineeringnatural-sciencesphysical-sciencesA mechanical engineer.

  • When the older courses had been separated from the literary curriculum eight years the civils, mechanicals and electricals had changed their relative positions four times.
  • A membership campaign was carried on early in the year and quite a number of the new mechanicals were reached, as well as a number of the old men who had slipped by the wayside.
• 5

  cyclinghobbieslifestyleAn instance of equipment failure.

  • The pack are suffering mechanicals and pull up under a lamp post marking a right turn.
  • Equipment back then was less capable than it is today, and we often had to deal with mechanical failures, also called mechanicals and the odd injury which we called 'bio-mechanicals'.
• 6

  entertainmentlifestylemusicA stop on an organ that is operated by a hand or foot control rather than having to be manually set up in advance.

  • On the other hand I heard only recently of a modern marvel — an organ of two manuals and about sixteen or eighteen stops with adequate and modern mechanicals that the pastor assures me has not been touched by repairer or even by tuner in four years!
  • Some would like the smallest number of foot mechanicals and the greatest number of hand mechanicals; some would like to do away with the crescendo pedal; some would prefer less diapason foundation; others would want a predominance of salty reeds ;
• 7

  archaicA machine that performs a job typically accomplished using an animal or manual labor.

  • Roland jumped on the horse and with herculean strength picked her up one armed and plopped her down in front of him. “I've had my fill of mechanicals of late. Hold on.”
  • Above all things, I liked to hear about horseless carriages and self-powered mechanicals, but I'd settle for ghosts at a pinch.