adding machine

noun

1. a machine capable of adding numbers and sometimes capable of performing the other arithmetic functions of subtraction, multiplication, and division: such machines are now obsolescent, having been replaced in most applications by electronic calculators.

adding machine

noun

1. a mechanical device, operated manually or electrically, for adding and often subtracting, multiplying, and dividing

Word History and Origins

Origin of adding machine¹

An Americanism dating back to 1870–75

Example Sentences

Lee was William S. Burroughs, Harvard graduate and heir to the Burroughs Adding Machine fortune.

From The Daily Beast

In 1874 he received a patent for a small hand adding machine.

From Project Gutenberg

No one will go shares in an adventure with Joe Kinney, a twenty-dollar-a-week clerk, the human adding machine, the hall-room boy.

From Project Gutenberg

The new device, the adding machine, has greatly lessened office drudgery.

From Project Gutenberg

Having installed an adding machine, our office work could be done in half the time.

From Project Gutenberg

If they are to be converted to uses for which excavation is desirable, this is another item for the adding machine.

From Project Gutenberg