Definition of "flying machine" [flying machine]

• A machine designed for flight, especially an early experimental type of aircraft. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The concept of the Hawker Hurricane had existed ever since the day when in the heavier-than-air flying machine of the Wright brothers the military men had found a new weapon."
• "He had realized from the first, of course, that the object in the gully was a flying machine of some sort; nothing else could have reached this spot without leaving traces in the surrounding forest."
• "In 1907, the Wright brothers offered patents on their newly developed flying machine to the Admiralty; Lord Tweedmouth, the First Lord, replied that airplanes “would be of no particular value to the Naval Service.”"