baby machine

8.1

A person who has many children in a short time, often said as a joke

noun
/ˈbeɪbi məˈʃin/

Slur

: máquina de parir

After her sixth child, her friends started calling her a baby machine as a joke.

Examples

Tabloids labeled the celebrity couple as baby machines after their fourth child in five years.
She laughed off being called a baby machine by her colleagues at work.
She is a real baby machine!
My friend calls her sister a baby machine.
After her sixth child, her friends started calling her a baby machine as a joke.
Tabloids labeled the celebrity couple as baby machines after their fourth child in five years.
She laughed off being called a baby machine by her colleagues at work.

Surface Forms

baby machine singular

baby machines plural

Morphology

baby + machine

The compound clearly combines 'baby' (young child) with a metaphorical use of 'machine' (something or someone that produces a lot), so a learner who knows both words can infer an entity that produces many babies. However, the expression is colloquial and metaphorical rather than literal, and nuances (humorous, derogatory, or referring to rapid succession) may not be fully predictable without exposure.

Etymology

Baby machine is a joking phrase that compares a woman who has many children to a machine that keeps making babies. So people use it to mean 'someone who has many children'.