From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Automaton \Au*tom"a*ton\, noun; pl. L. {Automata}, E. {Automatons}. [L. fr. Gr. ?, neut. of ? self-moving; ? self + a root ma, man, to strive, think, cf. ? to strive. See {Mean}, verb (used without an object)]
1. Any thing or being regarded as having the power of spontaneous motion or action. --Huxley.
So great and admirable an automaton as the world. --Boyle.
These living automata, human bodies. --Boyle.
2. A self-moving machine, or one which has its motive power within itself; -- applied chiefly to machines which appear to imitate spontaneously the motions of living beings, such as men, birds, etc.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: someone who acts or responds in a mechanical or apathetic way; "only an automaton wouldn't have noticed" [syn: {zombi}, {zombie}]
2: a mechanism that can move automatically [syn: {robot}, {golem}] [also: {automata} (pl)]
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
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