Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Automaton \Au*tom"a*ton\, n.; pl. L. {Automata}, E.
   {Automatons}. [L. fr. Gr. ?, neut. of ? self-moving; ? self +
   a root ma, man, to strive, think, cf. ? to strive. See
   {Mean}, v. i.]
   1. Any thing or being regarded as having the power of
      spontaneous motion or action. --Huxley.

            So great and admirable an automaton as the world.
                                                  --Boyle.

            These living automata, human bodies.  --Boyle.

   2. A self-moving machine, or one which has its motive power
      within itself; -- applied chiefly to machines which appear
      to imitate spontaneously the motions of living beings,
      such as men, birds, etc.