mechanic
- a person who repairs and maintains machinery, motors, etc.: an automobile mechanic.
- a worker who is skilled in the use of tools, machines, equipment, etc.
- Slang. a person skilled in the dishonest handling of cards, dice, or other objects used in games of chance.
Origin of mechanic
Examples from the Web for mechanic
Contemporary Examples
It plugs into the same port that a mechanic uses to check the computer, and it works on most cars made after 1996.
“I just had dreamed of becoming a mechanic one day,” she says.
A translator working with The Daily Beast said he brings his vehicle into the mechanic every two weeks to fix the suspension.
She hopes to become a mechanic or a driver for an NGO, many of which, she says, prefer to hire women over men.
But as the mechanic pointed out, the illegal drugs could just as easily have been weapons or explosives.
Historical Examples
In a moment more he returned with a small man in a mechanic's blouse.
Night and Morning, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
No mechanic has a set of customers so trustworthy as God and the elements.
The Works of Whittier, Volume VI (of VII)John Greenleaf Whittier
The mechanic who works at the bench may possess it, as well as the clergyman or the peer.
Self-HelpSamuel Smiles
But the Highlander had resources in these seasons which the mechanic has not.
Leading Articles on Various SubjectsHugh Miller
Stan saw at once that the mechanic had been trying to fit the machinery together.
A Yankee Flier Over BerlinAl Avery
mechanic
- a person skilled in maintaining or operating machinery, motors, etc
- archaic a common labourer
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for mechanic
adj.
late 14c., "pertaining to or involving mechanical labor" (now usually mechanical), also "having to do with tools," from Latin mechanicus, from Greek mekhanikos "full of resources, inventive, ingenious," literally "mechanical, pertaining to machines," from mekhane (see machine (n.)). Meaning "of the nature of or pertaining to machines" is from 1620s.
n.
"manual laborer," late 14c., from Latin mechanicus, from Greek mekhanikos "an engineer," noun use of adjective meaning "full of resources, inventive, ingenious" (see mechanic (adj.)). Sense of "one who is employed in manual labor, a handicraft worker, an artisan" (chief sense through early 19c.) is attested from 1560s. Sense of "skilled workman who is concerned with making or repair of machinery" is from 1660s, but not the main sense until the rise of the automobile.