ATM

abbreviation (Business World) Short for automated teller machine, a machine which carries out banking transactions automatically. (Usually known colloquially in the UK as a cashpoint or cash dispenser, although it may be capable of carrying out transactions other than cash dispensing.) Etymology: The initial letters of automated (or automatic ) teller machine. History and Usage: The full term automated teller machine was first used in the mid seventies, when the machines were put into mass operation in US banks; by 1976 this had been abbreviated to ATM, which has remained the standard term for the increasingly versatile machines in the US as well as Australia and other English-speaking countries. In the UK, they were available from the middle of the seventies but not used by the mass of the British public until the mid eighties. Consequently, the name ATM has tended to be used mostly in official circles, while cash dispenser, cash machine, and cashpoint have been the more popular names. Even though the machines are now capable of registering deposits, providing statements, etc., it seems unlikely that ATM will become the regular term in the UK as well. Bill payments and loan repayments can be made through ATMs...80 per cent of all ATM transactions were withdrawals, 10 per cent were inquiries and 10 per cent were deposits. Sunday Mail Magazine (Brisbane) 12 Oct. 1986, p. 16 Need cash at midnight? Hit the ATM. Life Fall 1989, p. 49 See also cash dispenser