Waldoes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Mechanical arms or devices used to manipulate objects remotely; plural form referring to multiple such tools often employed in hazardous or inaccessible environments; figurative term describing extensions of human reach or control
2. Instruments designed to extend human capability by allowing remote interaction; denoting several such mechanisms typically utilized in industrial or exploratory settings; metaphorically indicating tools that serve as proxies for human action
3. Remote-controlled appendages or manipulators meant to handle items at a distance; the plural indicating more than one of these apparatuses used in specialized fields; sometimes used symbolically for indirect influence tools

Etymology: Robert A. Heinlein's 1940 science fiction story "Waldo", published in the magazine Astounding, gave the English language a new word. Its protagonist, Waldo F. Jones, is a frail inventor with myasthenia gravis, a disease that weakens the muscles, so he designs remote manipulators: mechanical hands he operates from a distance to do work his own body can no longer manage. The story's invention proved so memorable that the name for the device became a common noun. "Waldoes" is simply the plural of that noun, referring to the remote-controlled mechanical arms themselves. The word therefore began as a character's name and became a generic term for the machines he imagined.

Synonyms: robots, automata, machines, androids, mechanical hands

Antonyms: humans, persons, people, operators, controllers