LOGOI

The corpus record

μηχανάομαι

mechanaomai

make by art, construct, build

Generated live from the audited corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Densest 12 of 43 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

μηχᾰν-άομαι · mēchan-aomai — LSJ

make by art, construct, build, prepare, prepare, make ready

make by art, construct, build, τείχεα μηχανόωντο Il. 8.177; πλοῖα Hdt. 1.94, cf. Th. 4.47; of any work requiring skill or art, μ. λαγόν prepare a hare, Hdt. 1.123; μ. σκιάς X. Cyr. 8.8.17: generally, prepare, make ready, τάφον καὶ κατασκαφάς τινι A. Th. 1043; ψυχῆς κόμιστρα τῇδε Id. Ag. 965; ἐσβάσεις E. IT 101.

2 contrive, devise, bring about, effect, contrive, against, form designs, plots, for, how, in order that, contrive that

more freq. contrive, devise, by art or cunning, freq. in bad sense, ἀτάσθαλα, κακά, ἀεικέα μηχανόωνται, Od. 3.207, 17.499, 22.432; θάνατόν τινος Antipho 1.3; but in good sense, γέλωτα μ. τοῖς συνοῦσι X. Cyr. 2.2.12; τισὶ μ. δύναμιν εἰς σωτηρίαν Pl. Prt. 320e; simply, bring about, effect, Hdt. 2.21; πόσα σε δέοι ἂν μηχανᾶσθαι τοῦ δοκεῖν ἕνεκα X. Cyr. 1.6.22:—Constr.: μ. τί τινι contrive something against a person, Od. 3.207; πατρὶ θάνατον Antipho 1.9; πᾶν ἐπί τινι Hdt. 4.154, cf. 6.88, etc.; τι ε

II procure for oneself

Med., procure for oneself, S. Ph. 295, X. Cyr. 3.2.15.

B contriving

Act. μηχανάω used by Hom. only in Ep. part., ἀτάσθαλα μηχανόωντας contriving dire effects, Od. 18.143, cf. A.R. 3.583; inf. μηχανᾶν S. Aj. 1037: pf. μεμηχάνημαι in pass. sense, Hdt. 1.98, 2.95, S. Tr. 586, X. Cyr. 8.3.1, Isoc. 3.6; λόγοι πρὸς τὸ φενακίζειν ὑμᾶς μεμηχανημένοι D. 22.35 (but also in act. sense, Pl. Grg. 459d, Lg. 904b, X. Hier. 11.4, Is. 11.36, etc.): plpf. in pass. sense impers., οὕτως ἐμεμηχάνητο αὐτοῖς Antipho 5.55: aor. ἐμηχανήθην in pass, sense, Epicur. Nat. 2.2, D.H. 12.14, J

In the wild

6 of 216 attestations shown. Ask for more.

Where it came from

No etymology authority pointer is recorded for this lemma yet — an honest gap, not an omission. The etymological dictionaries (Beekes, Chantraine, Frisk) are matched incrementally.

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