adding machine

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noun

a machine capable of adding numbers and sometimes capable of performing the other arithmetic functions of subtraction, multiplication, and division: such machines are now obsolescent, having been replaced in most applications by electronic calculators.

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Origin of adding machine

An Americanism dating back to 1870–75

Words nearby adding machine

addiction, addictive, Addie, add-in, adding, adding machine, Addington, add insult to injury, addio, Addis Ababa, Addison

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use adding machine in a sentence

He had an adding machine by the bed where he was constantly working and in the middle of all of that, he would work on music.
Meet the Man Making Opera History|Tracy Moran|September 26, 2021|Ozy
Lee was William S. Burroughs, Harvard graduate and heir to the Burroughs Adding Machine fortune.
American Dreams, 1953: ‘Junky’ by William S. Burroughs|Nathaniel Rich|June 27, 2013|DAILY BEAST
In 1874 he received a patent for a small hand adding machine.
The Wonder Book of Knowledge|Various
No one will go shares in an adventure with Joe Kinney, a twenty-dollar-a-week clerk, the human adding machine, the hall-room boy.
Once Upon A Time|Richard Harding Davis

The new device, the adding machine, has greatly lessened office drudgery.
Business English|Rose Buhlig
Having installed an adding machine, our office work could be done in half the time.
Business English|Rose Buhlig
If they are to be converted to uses for which excavation is desirable, this is another item for the adding machine.
If You're Going to Live in the Country|Thomas H. Ormsbee and Richmond Huntley

British Dictionary definitions for adding machine

adding machine

noun

a mechanical device, operated manually or electrically, for adding and often subtracting, multiplying, and dividing

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adding machine

Origin of adding machine

Words nearby adding machine

Words related to adding machine

How to use adding machine in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for adding machine