eternal alchemist
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Definitions of deus ex machina on the Web:
Literally, "god out of a machine," a literary or staging device which refers to some last-minute salvation of a tricky situation by a god or goddess who has been watching the entire plot unfold from afar. In the baroque period, elaborate scenery was devised whereby a particular god (more often than not Amor, the god of love) would descend from above the stage in a little cloud or carriage.
www.vaopera.org/html/allaboutopera/termstoknow.cfm
a resolution or end to a plot problem which is too convenient for the characters and generally seems unbelievable or forced particularly to an audience. It literally means "the god from the machine."
www.scriptsales.com/DDFundTerms.html
The god from the machine' used to refer to the appearance of gods by means of the mechane in tragedy. Also employed in a pejorative sense in modern literary criticism to refer to an improbable character or turn of events introduced by an author to resolve a difficult situation.
depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/dunkle/studyguide/glossary.htm
Literally, "God from the machine." The resolution of the plot by some incredibly implausible chance or coincidence.
www.baylorschool.org/academics/english/studentwork/stover/toolbox/fiction.html
A staging or literary device referring to salvation from a tricky situation by a god or goddess.
www.operatampa.org/101/glossary.htm
In Greek tragedies, the resolution of the plot by the device of a god ("deus") arriving onstage by means of a crane ("machina") and solving all the characters' problems. Today, this term encompasses any such contrived play ending, such as the discovery of a will. This theatrical element was considered clumsy by Aristotle and virtually all succeeding critics; it is occasionally used ironically in the modern theatre, as by Bertolt Brecht in The Threepenny Opera.
highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0767430077/student_view0/glossary.html
(DAY-us ex MOCK-ee-na): a convention used in Greek tragedy after Sophocles for lowering or lifting actors playing gods by means of a crane on the skene. The Latin phrase deus ex machina (“a god from a machine” is now used for any quick means of resolving a plot, like the sudden revelation at the end of Huck Finn that Jim is free and Huck has a fortune.
www.iolani.org/usacad_eng_eng10dterms_cw9404.htm
"god from the machine"; suspended from the geranos or mechane, the god would appear; this is more than a literal term: it suggests an abrupt ending--a sudden resolution--dictated by an intervening god; Euripides was notorious for its use, as in the Medea
www.clt.astate.edu/wnarey/Genre%20Class/tragedy_terms.htm
(from Greek theos apo mechanes): An unrealistic or unexpected intervention to rescue the protagonists or resolve the conflict. The term means "The god out of the machine," and refers to stage machinery. A classical Grecian actor, portraying one of the Greek gods in a play, might be lowered out of the sky onto the stage and then use his divine powers to solve all the mortals' problem. The term is a negative one, and often implies a lack of skill on the part of the writer. ...
www.gho-englisch.de/Courses/GK_En_01-03/Shakespeare/literary_terms.htm
Literally, God from the machine In a Roman play, the author would often reach the end of the performance and be totally stuck for an ending. So he would write in a sequence where a god would appear and magically solve the problems of all the characters.
myweb.tiscali.co.uk/temetfutue/glossary/glossaryD.htm
resolution of the plot by the appearance of a new character or a god
www.waycross.edu/faculty/selby/175_terms.html
literally, "the god from the machine," a reference to the practice of lowering a god onto the stage in the ancient Greek and Roman theaters; as a literary term it refers to a character that is introduced late in the play to provide a contrived solution to an apparently insolvable problem. See the ending of Tartuffe for an example.
filmplus.org/thr/dic1.html
a Greek term meaning “god from a machine.” In Greek theater, an actor playing a god was often lowered onto the stage to settle worldly affairs. The term is now used to describe any device an author introduces late in a play to resolve plot difficulties.
www.ket.org/content/trips/horsecave/vocab_foreign.htm
The event or person that saves a situation in the nick of time. (from Latin = god from the machinery - a device by which gods were suspended above the stage in ancient theatre).
www.nwatalent.com/glossary_theater.htm
any active agent who appears unexpectedly to solve an insoluble difficulty
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Deus ex machina is Latin for "god from the machine" and is a calque from the Greek "από μηχανής θεός", (pronounced "apo mekhanes theos"). It originated with Greek and Roman theater, when a mechane would lower a god or gods onstage to resolve a hopeless situation. Thus, "god comes from the machine". ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina
Literally, "god out of a machine," a literary or staging device which refers to some last-minute salvation of a tricky situation by a god or goddess who has been watching the entire plot unfold from afar. In the baroque period, elaborate scenery was devised whereby a particular god (more often than not Amor, the god of love) would descend from above the stage in a little cloud or carriage.
www.vaopera.org/html/allaboutopera/termstoknow.cfm
a resolution or end to a plot problem which is too convenient for the characters and generally seems unbelievable or forced particularly to an audience. It literally means "the god from the machine."
www.scriptsales.com/DDFundTerms.html
The god from the machine' used to refer to the appearance of gods by means of the mechane in tragedy. Also employed in a pejorative sense in modern literary criticism to refer to an improbable character or turn of events introduced by an author to resolve a difficult situation.
depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/dunkle/studyguide/glossary.htm
Literally, "God from the machine." The resolution of the plot by some incredibly implausible chance or coincidence.
www.baylorschool.org/academics/english/studentwork/stover/toolbox/fiction.html
A staging or literary device referring to salvation from a tricky situation by a god or goddess.
www.operatampa.org/101/glossary.htm
In Greek tragedies, the resolution of the plot by the device of a god ("deus") arriving onstage by means of a crane ("machina") and solving all the characters' problems. Today, this term encompasses any such contrived play ending, such as the discovery of a will. This theatrical element was considered clumsy by Aristotle and virtually all succeeding critics; it is occasionally used ironically in the modern theatre, as by Bertolt Brecht in The Threepenny Opera.
highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0767430077/student_view0/glossary.html
(DAY-us ex MOCK-ee-na): a convention used in Greek tragedy after Sophocles for lowering or lifting actors playing gods by means of a crane on the skene. The Latin phrase deus ex machina (“a god from a machine” is now used for any quick means of resolving a plot, like the sudden revelation at the end of Huck Finn that Jim is free and Huck has a fortune.
www.iolani.org/usacad_eng_eng10dterms_cw9404.htm
"god from the machine"; suspended from the geranos or mechane, the god would appear; this is more than a literal term: it suggests an abrupt ending--a sudden resolution--dictated by an intervening god; Euripides was notorious for its use, as in the Medea
www.clt.astate.edu/wnarey/Genre%20Class/tragedy_terms.htm
(from Greek theos apo mechanes): An unrealistic or unexpected intervention to rescue the protagonists or resolve the conflict. The term means "The god out of the machine," and refers to stage machinery. A classical Grecian actor, portraying one of the Greek gods in a play, might be lowered out of the sky onto the stage and then use his divine powers to solve all the mortals' problem. The term is a negative one, and often implies a lack of skill on the part of the writer. ...
www.gho-englisch.de/Courses/GK_En_01-03/Shakespeare/literary_terms.htm
Literally, God from the machine In a Roman play, the author would often reach the end of the performance and be totally stuck for an ending. So he would write in a sequence where a god would appear and magically solve the problems of all the characters.
myweb.tiscali.co.uk/temetfutue/glossary/glossaryD.htm
resolution of the plot by the appearance of a new character or a god
www.waycross.edu/faculty/selby/175_terms.html
literally, "the god from the machine," a reference to the practice of lowering a god onto the stage in the ancient Greek and Roman theaters; as a literary term it refers to a character that is introduced late in the play to provide a contrived solution to an apparently insolvable problem. See the ending of Tartuffe for an example.
filmplus.org/thr/dic1.html
a Greek term meaning “god from a machine.” In Greek theater, an actor playing a god was often lowered onto the stage to settle worldly affairs. The term is now used to describe any device an author introduces late in a play to resolve plot difficulties.
www.ket.org/content/trips/horsecave/vocab_foreign.htm
The event or person that saves a situation in the nick of time. (from Latin = god from the machinery - a device by which gods were suspended above the stage in ancient theatre).
www.nwatalent.com/glossary_theater.htm
any active agent who appears unexpectedly to solve an insoluble difficulty
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Deus ex machina is Latin for "god from the machine" and is a calque from the Greek "από μηχανής θεός", (pronounced "apo mekhanes theos"). It originated with Greek and Roman theater, when a mechane would lower a god or gods onstage to resolve a hopeless situation. Thus, "god comes from the machine". ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina