adding machine

American  

noun

1. 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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adding machine British  

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of adding machine

An Americanism dating back to 1870–75

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

adding machine

“It’s kind of the Stone Age here,” said Tom, pointing to a dusty hand-cranked adding machine on the counter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2023

The first adding machine was invented in 1623.

From Salon ● Jan. 16, 2023

The vintage telephone and even more vintage adding machine!

From Slate ● Feb. 11, 2020

Bowman is a language dervish—the pleasure in hearing him describe the adding machine, the source of William S. Burroughs’s family as “the rosary of capitalism,” belongs not to me but to literature.

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 2, 2019

Some of it had gotten all the way over onto August’s adding machine.

From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd

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