Deus Ex Machina

1. (n) A plot device in which an inferior, contrived event occurs in a story, providing an improbable solution to the plot's conflict. It has the effect of letting the writer avoid the work of creating a real, plausible solution. syn. hokey, corny, artificial, and "are you sh&^$%ing me?"


2. (n) A skilled technician who can assume God-like powers over a mechanical device. Those powers include raisng the dead, healing the infirm, and improving performance to levels worthy of the dieties.

In polite circles it is generally assumed that being considered the latter is inherently superior to being exposed as the former.

There is, of course, a verbified variant:
Deus Ex Machina (v). To form an unholy alliance of the two, a bifecta in which an otherwise masterful author produces stories butchered by deus ex machina (type 1 - the scribe's device), all in the name of accumulating lucre. The shelves at Amazon.com's warehouse sag under the weight of said product. It would be better if those items were moved in order that the shelves instead so sagged in the birdcage liner section of that storage facility.