Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Mechanical?

\Me*chan"ic*al\, a. [From {Mechanic}, a.] 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 maneuvers} (Mil.), the application of mechanical appliances to the mounting, dismounting, and moving of artillery. --Farrow. {Mechanical philosophy}, the principles of mechanics applied to the inverstigation of physical phenomena. {Mechanical powers}, certain simple instruments, such as the lever and its 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 through a great space into a great force acting through a small space, or vice versa, and are used separately or in combination. {Mechanical solution} (Math.), a solution of a problem by any art or contrivance not strictly geometrical, as by means of the ruler and compasses, or other instruments.
\Me*chan"ic*al\, n. A mechanic. [Obs.] --Shak.