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robots - 4 dictionary results
ro⋅bot
[roh-buh
t, -bot] 
–noun
| 1. | a machine that resembles a human and does mechanical, routine tasks on command. |
| 2. | a person who acts and responds in a mechanical, routine manner, usually subject to another's will; automaton. |
| 3. | any machine or mechanical device that operates automatically with humanlike skill. |
–adjective
| 4. | operating automatically: a robot train operating between airline terminals. |
Origin:
< Czech, coined by Karel Čapek in the play R.U.R. (1920) from the base robot-, as in robota compulsory labor, robotník peasant owing such labor
< Czech, coined by Karel Čapek in the play R.U.R. (1920) from the base robot-, as in robota compulsory labor, robotník peasant owing such labor
Related forms:
ro⋅bot⋅ism, noun
robotic, ro⋅bot⋅is⋅tic [roh-buh-tis-tik, -bo-] , adjective
[roh-buh-tis-tik, -bo-] , adjective ro⋅bot⋅like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
|
Link To robots
| ro·bot (rō'bŏt', -bət) n.
[Czech, from robota, drudgery; see orbh- in Indo-European roots.] ro·bot'ic adj. Word History: Robot is a word that is both a coinage by an individual person and a borrowing. It has been in English since 1923 when the Czech writer Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. was translated into English and presented in London and New York. R.U.R., published in 1921, is an abbreviation of Rossum's Universal Robots; robot itself comes from Czech robota, "servitude, forced labor," from rab, "slave." The Slavic root behind robota is orb-, from the Indo-European root *orbh-, referring to separation from one's group or passing out of one sphere of ownership into another. This seems to be the sense that binds together its somewhat diverse group of derivatives, which includes Greek orphanos, "orphan," Latin orbus, "orphaned," and German Erbe, "inheritance," in addition to the Slavic word for slave mentioned above. Czech robota is also similar to another German derivative of this root, namely Arbeit, "work" (its Middle High German form arabeit is even more like the Czech word). Arbeit may be descended from a word that meant "slave labor," and later generalized to just "labor." |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
| robot (rō'bŏt') Pronunciation Key
A machine designed to replace human beings in performing a variety of tasks, either on command or by being programmed in advance. |
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Language Translation for : robots
Spanish:
mellado, marcado,
German:
gezackt,
Japanese:
へこみのある
Mobile robots: Robotino
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