infernal machine

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word infernal machine. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word infernal machine, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say infernal machine in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word infernal machine you have here. The definition of the word infernal machine will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofinfernal machine, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Noun

infernal machine (plural infernal machines)

  1. (dated) A bespoke machine comprising a large bomb and an unmanned vessel or carriage carrying it to a target
    • 1810, Charles James, “Machines, Infernal”, in A New and Enlarged Military Dictionary, in French and English, 3rd edition, volume I, London: T. Egerton:
      The Prince of Orange likewise had recourse to the destructive effects of an infernal machine, in order to bombard Havre-de-Grace, and to set it on fire.
    • 1871, William Stephens Hayward, “LIII : The Explosion”, in The Fiery Cross, a Tale of the Great American War, London: Charles H. Clarke, page 345:
      The vessel against which the infernal machine had been moored had been blown to atoms.
  2. (dated) A booby-trap or improvised explosive device
    • 1894, Her Majesty's Inspectors of Explosives, Eighteenth Annual Report, for the Year 1893 (Command papers)‎, volume C. 7417, London: HMSO, page 68:
      The infernal machines employed generally consisted of a crude kind of hand grenade filled with gunpowder, and lit by means of a piece of ordinary fuze. The effect of these bombs appears, in most instances, to have been of a comparatively harmless character, doing very little damage to buildings, and fortunately unattended with loss of life.
    • 1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society, published 2010, page 105:
      When a serious attempt was made upon Bonaparte's life by the explosion of an infernal machine, Fouché knew that the plot had been hatched and carried out by royalists []