machinery

MACHINERY, noun A complicated work, or combination of mechanical powers in a work, designed to increase, regulate or apply motion and force; as the machinery of a watch or other chronometer. 1. Machines in general. The machinery of a cotton-mill is often moved by a single wheel. 2. In epic and dramatic poetry, superhuman beings introduced by the poet to solve difficulty, or perform some exploit which exceeds human power; or the word may signify the agency of such beings, as supposed deities, angels, demons and the like. Nee Deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus Incidit. A deity is not to be introduced, unless a difficulty occurs that requires the intervention of a god. The machinery of Milton's Paradise Lost, consists of numerous superhuman personages. Pope's Rape of the Lock is rendered very interesting by the machinery of sylphs.