a. [f. Gr. αὐτόματ-ος (see AUTOMATON) + -IC.] Of the nature of, or pertaining to, an automaton.
1. lit. Self-acting, having the power of motion or action within itself.
1812. Sir H. Davy, Chem. Philos., 180. In the universe, nothing can be said to be automatic.
1876. Foster, Phys. (1879), Introd. 2. We may therefore speak of the amœba as being irritable and automatic. (Note. Automatic … has recently acquired a meaning almost exactly opposite to that which it originally bore, and an automatic action is now by many understood to mean nothing more than an action produced by some machinery or other. In this work I use it in the older sense, as denoting an action of a body, the causes of which appear to lie in the body itself.)
2. Self-acting under conditions fixed for it, going of itself. Applied esp. to machinery and its movements, which produce results otherwise done by hand, or which simulate human or animal action, as an ‘automatic mouse.’
1802. Paley, Nat. Theol., iii. The difference between an animal and an automatic statue.
1842. W. Grove, Corr. Phys. Forces, 57. Automatic or self-registration of periodical phenomena.
1872. Yeats, Techn. Hist. Comm., 370. Automatic machinery [for] … the drilling and boring of metal.
Mod. A Sewing Machine with automatic tension.
3. Of animal actions: Like those of mechanical automatons; not accompanied by volition or consciousness, ‘mechanical.’
1748. Hartley, Observ. Man, I. Introd. The Motions are called automatic from their Resemblance to the Motions of Automata, or Machines, whose Principle of Motion is within themselves.
1855. Bain, Senses & Int., I. ii. § 18. The winking of the eyes is essentially automatic.
1871. trans. Pouchet’s Universe, 106. The automatic nature of insects has only been maintained by those who have never observed them.
4. Not characterized by active intelligence; merely mechanical.
1843. J. Martineau, Chr. Life (1876), 60. To rest in mere automatic regularities.
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr., II. III. vi. 95. Mechanical and automatic acts of devotion.
5. Relating to automatons; AUTOMATICAL.
c. 1860. Wraxall, trans. R. Houdin, v. 50. He gave me the automaton I was to repair … I began my first automatic labours.
