perpetual motion machine
3
9.9
- noun
- /pərˈpɛtʃuəl ˈmoʊʃən məˈʃin/
- Specialized
:
máquina de movimiento perpetuo
- Perpetual motion machines don't work—you can never get more out of a system than you put into it.
- invent a perpetual motion machine
Recently one of my favorite Youtubers, Steve Mold, put up a video about a perpetual motion machine and I went and bought it.
- Recently one of my favorite Youtubers, Steve Mold, put up a video about a perpetual motion machine and I went and bought it.
Examples
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Mike Gay is building a perpetual motion machine in his backyard.
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Why can't I get a grant to develop my perpetual motion machine?
Blog text (22) -
Have you built the world's first perpetual motion machine?
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This is the first perpetual motion machine in the history of mankind.
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In the meantime, I had only one month left to finish my plans for a new perpetual motion machine.
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Although there is no hope of making perpetual motion machines, we have built efficient machines.
Academic text (1991) -
You've invented the perpetual motion machine.
Fiction book (1999) -
Have you built the world's first perpetual motion machine?
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In the meantime, I had only one month left to finish my plans for a new perpetual motion machine.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Each component is compositional: 'perpetual' (continuing indefinitely) + 'motion' (movement) + 'machine' (a device) yields a machine that moves or operates forever. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily infer this basic meaning (even if the scientific impossibility is extra knowledge), so the expression is transparently built from its parts.
Etymology
The term perpetual motion machine comes from the image of a machine in motion that is perpetual, meaning it never stops and needs no fuel. So the phrase means 'a machine that would work forever', and scientists say such a thing 'cannot exist'.