factory

factory

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of factory in English

English Online Dictionary. What means factory‎? What does factory mean?

English

Etymology

From Latin factorium (place of doers, makers). Equivalent to factor +‎ -y. Compare Middle French factorie; Italian fattoria, Spanish factoría, Portuguese feitoria, Dutch factorij.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfæk.tə.ɹi/, /ˈfæk.tɹi/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfæk.tɚ.i/, /ˈfæk.tɹi/
  • Rhymes: -æktəɹi, -æktɹi

Noun

factory (plural factories)

  1. (chiefly Scotland, now rare) The position or state of being a factor. [from 16th c.]
  2. (now historical) A trading establishment, especially set up by merchants working in a foreign country. [from 16th c.]
    • 1792, James Boswell, in Danziger & Brady (eds.), Boswell: The Great Biographer (Journals 1789–1795), Yale 1989, p. 184:
      We had here his curate, Mr. Furley, who had been nine years chaplain to the English factory at St. Petersburg [] .
  3. A building or other place where manufacturing takes place. [from 17th c.]
    Synonym: manufactory
  4. (UK, slang) A police station. [from 19th c.]
  5. A device or process that produces or manufactures something.
  6. A factory farm.
    chicken factory; pig factory
  7. (programming) In a computer program or library, a function, method, etc. which creates an object.

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

  • Tok Pisin: faktori
  • Welsh: ffatri

Translations

Further reading

  • “factory”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
  • “factory”, in The Century Dictionary [], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Adjective

factory (not comparable)

  1. (colloquial, of a configuration, part, etc.) Having come from the factory in the state it is currently in; original, stock.

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.