/meuh shee"neuh ree/ , n. , pl. machineries .
1. an assemblage of machines or mechanical apparatuses: the machinery of a factory.
2. the parts of a machine, collectively: the machinery of a watch.
3. a group of people or a system by which action is maintained or by which some result is obtained: the machinery of government.
4. a group of contrivances for producing stage effects.
5. the group or aggregate of literary machines, esp. those of supernatural agency (epic machinery) in an epic poem.
[ 1680-90; MACHINE + -ERY ]
Syn. 3. organization, structure, setup.