英语machine，源自法语machine、拉丁语māchina、希腊语μηχανή“装置，结构，（攻城）机械，计划” 。它的含义可大致分为四类（图1）：
I.可以独立运作的结构，尤指社会、世界、宇宙、生物体、人体。OED似乎认为，笛卡尔的“动物是机器”（animal machine）用的也是这个词义！*
II.设计出来的结构，包括攻城机械和机械降神。由此引申为文学作品里的超自然存在，或是追求戏剧效果的文学手段。托尔金笔下的“机械”，经常带有这类含义。
III.交通工具，包括船舶和马车、自行车等有轮子的东西。维多利亚时代洗海水浴用的bathing-machine（图3），用的其实是这个词义。
IV.这个出现最晚的义项，才是我们熟悉的machine/机器的现代含义：“代替人工的力学装置”。
在20世纪之前，machine的前三类含义十分常见。法语等欧洲语言中的相关词汇，可能也经历过类似的语义演变。阅读早期作品时，宜仔细辨析词义。

*看到“生物体”这个义项，我第一反应就是，该不会我们对笛卡尔机械论的理解都被古今异义误导了吧……不过查了下《方法论》，他确实用了自动机械的比喻（图4）。而“机械论”原文则是没什么歧义的mechanism

There is also a difference between human beings and the other animals with regard to gestation. Other animals are most of the time in better physical condition, whereas the majority of women suffer discomfort in connexion with gestation. Now the cause of this is to some extent attributable to their manner of life, which is sedentary, and this means that they are full of residue; they have more of it than the other animals. [συμβαίνει δὲ καὶ διαφορὰ περὶ τὰς κυήσεις ἐπί τε τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων· τὰ μὲν γὰρ εὐθηνεῖ μᾶλλον τοῖς σώμασι τὸν πλεῖστον χρόνον, τῶν δὲ γυναικῶν αἱ πολλαὶ δυσφοροῦσι περὶ τὴν κύησιν. ἔστι μὲν οὖν αἴτιόν τι τούτου καὶ διὰ τὸν βίον·] (775a32).

And similarly in the human race also, for there are wide differences of life among mankind. The idlest men are nomads (for to procure food from domesticated animals involves no toil or industry, but as it is necessary for the herds to move from place to place because of the pastures, the people themselves are forced to follow along with them, as though they were farming a live farm). Other men live from hunting, and different people from different kinds of hunting, for instance some from brigandage, others from fishing—these are those that dwell on the banks of lakes, marshes and rivers or of a sea suitable for fishing,—and others live on wild birds and animals. But the largest class of men live from the land and the fruits of cultivation. This then virtually completes the list of the various modes of life [οἱ μὲν οὖν ἀργότατοι νομάδες εἰσίν (ἡ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν ἡμέρων τροφὴ ζῴων ἄνευ πόνου γίνεται σχολάζουσιν, ἀναγκαίου δ᾿ ὄντος μεταβάλλειν τοῖς κτήνεσι διὰ τὰς νομὰς καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀναγκάζονται συνακολουθεῖν, ὥσπερ γεωργίαν ζῶσαν γεωργοῦντες)· οἱ δ᾿ ἀπὸ θήρας ζῶσι, καὶ θήρας ἕτεροι ἑτέρας, οἷον οἱ μὲν ἀπὸ λῃστείας, οἱ δ᾿ ἀφ᾿ ἁλιείας ὅσοι λίμνας καὶ ἕλη καὶ ποταμοὺς ἢ θάλατταν τοιαύτην προσοικοῦσιν, οἱ δ᾿ ἀπ᾿ ὀρνίθων ἢ θηρίων ἀγρίων· τὸ δὲ πλεῖστον γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ζῇ καὶ τῶν ἡμέρων καρπῶν. οἱ μὲν οὖν βίοι τοσοῦτοι σχεδόν εἰσιν] (1256a40-1256b2).