▪ I. † ˈautomate, n. and a. Obs.
[a. F. automate (Cotgr.), ad. L. automaton, -um.]
A. n. = automaton.
| a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden James III Wks. 61 Taken with admiration of watches, clocks, dials, automates. a 1751 Bolingbroke Hum. Knowl. i. (R.) We pronounce our fellow animals to be automates, or we allow them instinct. |
B. adj. [Cf. F. automate, adj.] = automatic.
| 1818 Southey in Q. Rev. XIX. 18 His scheme of a Royal Garden comprehended..artificial echos, automate and hydraulic music. |
▪ II. automate, v. orig. U.S.
(ˈɔːtəmeɪt)
[Back-formation f. next or f. automation; cf. automate n. and a.]
1. trans. To apply automation to; to convert to largely automatic operation; to introduce automatic control to (the manufacture of a product, etc.).
| 1954 N.Y. Times 4 May (heading) Huge Sums to Be Spent to Automate Plants. 1959 Listener 5 Nov. 762/2 In theory..management in steel has the right to automate the mills without interference. 1961 Times 3 Oct. (Computer Suppl.) ii/5 The first stage in ‘automating’ a production plant is to increase mechanization. 1962 Listener 17 May 855/1 It is natural that we should try to programme, or automate, part of the teacher's work [by the use of teaching machines]. |
2. intr. or absol.
| 1955 Controller Dec. 602/2 PanAm Automates. 1962 Economist 19 May 693/1 Those days saw the country ‘automating’ considerably faster than it is doing now. 1967 Listener 23 Feb. 248/1 The more we automate, the greater the resources needed. |