time machine

English

Etymology

Coined by British science fiction author H. G. Wells in 1895 in his novel The Time Machine.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

time machine (plural time machines)

1. (chiefly science fiction) A hypothetical device used to travel into the past or the future.
   • 2014, Ingrid Michaelson, Trent Dabbs, busbee, “Time Machine”, in Lights Out‎^[1], performed by Ingrid Michaelson:

     If I had a time machine / And if life was a movie scene / I'd rewind, and I'd tell me / "Ru-u-u-u-u-u-u-un"

2. (informal) Something that appears to take a person or thing to another time, for example through nostalgia or delay.
   • 2017, Fine Art Photoshop: Diving Into the World of Photographic Art:

     It's a time machine for Photoshop. It's magic. Image makers can not just combine different images, but different points in time from each image.

   • Conrad Riker, The Last Days of Manhood

     Mayo Clinic research shows heavy squats spike growth hormone by 530%. That's not exercise — it's a time machine for your cells.

Coordinate terms

• DeLorean
• Tardis

Derived terms

• Tipler time machine

Translations

device used to travel in time

• Albanian: makinë kohe f
• Arabic: آلَةُ زَمَن f (ʔālatu zaman)
• Armenian: ժամանակի մեքենա (žamanaki mekʻena)
• Azerbaijani: zaman maşını
• Belarusian: машы́на ча́су f (mašýna čásu)
• Bengali: টাইম মেশিন (ṭaim meśin)
• Breton: ribourzerez f
• Bulgarian: маши́на на вре́ме f (mašína na vréme)
• Burmese: အချိန်ခရီးသွားစက် (a.hkyinhka.ri:swa:cak), အချိန်စက် (a.hkyincak)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 時間機器 / 时间机器 (si⁴ gaan³ gei¹ hei³)

  Mandarin: 時間機器 / 时间机器 (zh) (shíjiān jīqì), 時光機 / 时光机 (zh) (shíguāngjī)

• Czech: stroj času (cs) m
• Danish: tidsmaskine c
• Dutch: tijdmachine (nl) f
• Esperanto: tempomaŝino (eo)
• Estonian: ajamasin
• Finnish: aikakone (fi)
• French: machine à explorer le temps f, machine à voyager dans le temps f, machine à remonter le temps f
• Georgian: დროის მანქანა (drois mankana)
• German: Zeitmaschine (de) f
• Greek: χρονομηχανή (el) f (chronomichaní), μηχανή του χρόνου f (michaní tou chrónou)
• Hebrew: מְכוֹנַת זְמַן f (m'khonát zmán)
• Hindi: टाइम मशीन f (ṭāim maśīn), समय यात्रा यंत्र m (samay yātrā yantra) (literally)
• Hungarian: időgép (hu)
• Icelandic: tímavél f
• Indonesian: mesin waktu
• Irish: meaisín ama m
• Italian: macchina del tempo (it) f
• Japanese: タイムマシン (ja) (taimumashin), タイムマシーン (taimumashīn)
• Kazakh: уақыт машинасы (waqıt mašıynası)
• Khmer: ម៉ាស៊ីនពេលវេលា (maasɨn peil veiliə), ម៉ាស៊ីនឆ្លងពេលវេលា (maasɨn chlɑɑng peil veiliə)
• Korean: 타임머신 (taimmeosin)
• Kyrgyz: убакыт машинасы (ubakıt maşinası)
• Lao: ເຄື່ອງຍ້ອນເວລາ (khư̄ang nyǭn wē lā)
• Latin: māchina temporis f
• Latvian: laika mašīna f
• Lithuanian: laiko mašina f
• Macedonian: времеплов m (vremeplov), временска машина f pl (vremenska mašina)
• Malay: mesin masa
• Maltese: magna tal-ħin f
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: цаг хугацааны машин (cag xugacaany mašin)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tidsmaskin m

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: ماشینِ زَمان (fa) (mâšin-e zamân)

• Polish: wehikuł czasu (pl) m
• Portuguese: máquina do tempo f
• Romanian: mașina timpului f
• Russian: маши́на вре́мени (ru) f (mašína vrémeni)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: áigemašiidna

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вре̏мепло̄в m, временска машина f

  Roman: vrȅmeplōv (sh) m, vremenska mašina f

• Slovak: časostroj m, stroj času m
• Slovene: časovni stroj m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: casowa mašina f

  Upper Sorbian: časowa mašina f

• Spanish: máquina del tiempo f
• Swedish: tidsmaskin (sv) c
• Tajik: мошини замон (mošin-i zamon), мошини вақт (mošin-i vaqt)
• Thai: เครื่องย้อนเวลา (krʉ̂ʉang-yɔ́ɔn-wee-laa)
• Turkish: zaman makinesi
• Turkmen: wagt maşyny
• Ukrainian: маши́на ча́су f (mašýna čásu)
• Urdu: ٹائِم مَشِین f (ṭāim maśīn)
• Uyghur: ۋاقىت ماشىنىسى (waqit mashinisi)
• Uzbek: vaqt mashinasi
• Vietnamese: cỗ máy thời gian
• Welsh: peiriant amser m

See also

• time travel
• Einstein-Rosen bridge
• wayback machine