Etymology

machine-hour

Today it means: The amount of work that can be done by one machine in one hour; a billable hour for one machine. (Said of, for example, a piece of heavy equipment or a machine tool.) Full definition →

Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

Compound of machine + hour, although, as with any such unit of measure (e.g., ton-miles, newton metres), the mathematical relationship of multiplication is simultaneously involved: X machines working during Y hours = X × Y = Z machine-hours.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.