automatic

Etymology

From French automatique, from Ancient Greek αὐτόματον (autómaton), neuter of αὐτόματος (autómatos, “self-moving, moving of oneself, self-acting, spontaneous”), from αὐτός (autós, “self, myself”) + μέμαα (mémaa, “to wish eagerly, strive, yearn, desire”).

adj

1. Capable of operating without external control or intervention.
   The automatic clothes washer was a great labor-saving device.
2. Done out of habit or without conscious thought.
   The reaction was automatic: flight!
   Absent-minded doodling is a form of automatic art.
   "I don't know why! Sometimes I feel like a girl! Sometimes a guy! I don't know why I feel that way! I just do! Always have! I can't remember not feeling this way! How do you explain something as natural and automatic to you as breathing?!" 10 November 2021, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Wednesday, Nov 10, 2021
3. Necessary, inevitable, prescribed by logic, law, etc.
   Spitting at another player means an automatic red card.
4. (of a firearm such as a machine gun) Firing continuously as long as the trigger is pressed until ammunition is exhausted.
   Fully automatic weapons cannot be legally owned by private citizens in the US, except in very special circumstances, as by private security companies.
5. (of a handgun) An autoloader; a semi-automatic or self-loading pistol, as opposed to a revolver or other manually actuated handgun, which fires one shot per pull of the trigger; distinct from machine guns.
   The US Army adopted John Browning's M1911 pistol as its sidearm, chambered in .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol).
6. (computing, of a local variable) Automatically added to and removed from the stack during the course of function calls.
7. (mathematics, of a group) Having one or more finite-state automata.

noun

1. A car with automatic transmission.
   I never learned to drive a stick. I can only drive an automatic.
2. A semi-automatic pistol.
   The G-men raiding the speakeasy were equipped with .45 automatics, while the local policemen were carrying revolvers and shotguns.
   'The automatic under his pillow gave the lie to that statement.' 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 9, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 262