Automat
a type of self-service restaurant in which customers obtain food from small compartments by depositing the required number of coins in slots so that the doors can be opened.
Automat
American
[aw-tuh-mat]
/ ˈɔ təˌmæt /
Trademark.
automat
British
/ ˈɔːtəˌmæt /
noun
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Also called: vending machine. a machine that automatically dispenses goods, such as cigarettes, when money is inserted
-
an area or room, sometimes having restaurant facilities, where food and other goods are supplied from vending machines
Explanation
An automat is a food-dispensing machine or a restaurant with many such machines. If you prefer getting your take-out without speaking to another human being, an automat is the place to go. The word automat has the same beginning as automatic, meaning "operating with minimal human intervention." Automats were quite popular in the early- to mid-1900s. These restaurants had fresh food selections, usually made on-site and displayed in glass compartments. Diners dropped a coin into a slot beside their chosen dish, turned a knob, and then lifted the glass door to take their food. The original term was automated cafeteria.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Apart from the tellingly-named ghost kitchens, fast-food companies, the successors of the original Automat, seem eager to find out.
From Salon ● Jan. 22, 2024
Automat Kitchen’s original opening date was postponed from April 2020 because of the pandemic, and many office workers in the building where it is located still have not returned.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2022
In 1902, Horn and Hardart imported this equipment and launched the first Horn & Hardart Automat, at 818 Chestnut St. in Philadelphia.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2022
Does the Automat represent an American ideal in some ways, with its democratic approach?
From New York Times ● Feb. 18, 2022
But it wasn’t all soupy like the chow mein Mario had seen at the Automat.
From "The Cricket in Times Square" by George Selden
In 1902, Horn & Hardart opened the first automat in Philadelphia.
From Salon ● Jan. 22, 2024
The late Colin Powell, born in Harlem and raised in the South Bronx before eventually becoming secretary of state, patronized an automat in Midtown Manhattan, in part because of its “beautiful diversity.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2022
Though the first “automatic” restaurant appeared in Germany in the 1890s, Hurwitz traced the American phenom to Philadelphia restaurateurs Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart, who opened their first automat in that city in 1902.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 21, 2022
During the Great Depression, an automat was a warm haven where you could sit all day sipping coffee for a nickel.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 21, 2022
From breakfast at the automat they went to laundry at the laundromat.
From "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
