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arrangement or relation of the parts of anything as adapted to produce an effect; as, the mechanism of a watch; the mechanism of a sewing machine; the mechanism of a seed pod.

Effective motion; also, mechanism; as, the breech action of a gun.

ment or appliance, mechanical or chemical, for a specific action or operation; machinery; mechanism.

s men in the streets. Berners. [They] were beginning to arrange their hampers. Boswell. A mechanism previously arranged. Paley.

An automobile vehicle or mechanism; esp., a self-propelled vehicle suitable for use on a street or roadway. Automobiles are usually propelled by internal combustion engines (using volatile inflammable liquids, as gasoline or petrol, alcohol, naphtha, etc.), steam engines, or electric motors. The power of the driving mo…

alone; it is automatically stable if it keeps in steady poise by means of self-operative mechanism.

Anything arranged to act as a support, as in various forms of mechanism, etc.

A piece of mechanism for retarding or stopping motion by friction, as of a carriage or railway car, by the pressure of rubbers against the wheels, or of clogs or ratchets against the track or roadway, or of a pivoted lever against a wheel or drum in a machine.

The breech mechanism in breech-loading small arms and certain special guns, as automatic and machine guns; --used frequently in referring to the method by which the movable barrels of breech- loading shotguns are locked, unlocked, or rotated to loading position.

; specif., in the pl., the music performed on such a set of bells by hand, or produced by mechanism to accompany the striking of the hours or their divisions. We have heard the chimes at midnight. Shak.

The valve gearing or mechanism by which steam is cut off from entering the cylinder of a steam engine after a definite point in a stroke, so as to allow the remainder of the stroke to be made by the expansive force of the steam already let in. See Expansion gear, under Expansion.

r. (b) A contrivance, as in a pianoforte, to deaden vibrations; or, as in other pieces of mechanism, to check some action at a particular time. Nor did Sabrina's presence seem to act as any damper at the modest little festivities. W. Black.

ht line. It corresponds to the end of a stroke; as, A and B are dead centers of the crank mechanism in which the crank C drives, or is driven by, the lever L. -- Dead color (Paint.), a color which has no gloss upon it. -- Dead coloring (Oil paint.), the layer of colors, the preparation for what is to follow. In moder…

Dead-stroke hammer (Mach.), a power hammer having a spring interposed between the driving mechanism and the hammer head, or helve, to lessen the recoil of the hammer and reduce the shock upon the mechanism.

ting to differences of motion or leverage; producing effects by such differences; said of mechanism. Differential calculus. (Math.) See under Calculus. -- Differential coefficient, the limit of the ratio of the increment of a function of a variable to the increment of the variable itself, when these increments are mad…

to, resembling, or having the motion of, an epicycle. Epicyclic train (Mach.), a train of mechanism in which epicyclic motion is involved; esp., a train of spur wheels, bevel wheels, or belt pulleys, in which an arm, carrying one or more of the wheels, sweeps around a center lying in an axis common to the other wheels.…

The mechanism by which the action of feeding is produced; a feed motion. Feed bag, a nose bag containing feed for a horse or mule. -- Feed cloth, an apron for leading cotton, wool, or other fiber, into a machine, as for carding, etc. -- Feed door, a door to a furnace, by which to supply coal. -- Feed head. (a) A cis…

The mechanism for closing the breech of a breech-loading firearm, in artillery consisting principally of the breechblock, obturator, and carrier ring.

In the breech mechanism of a firearm, the pin which strikes the head of the cartridge and explodes it.

A trivial mechanism; a device; a toy; a pretty thing. Arbuthnot.