Meaning

verb arrange by systematic planning and united effort

verb engage in plotting or enter into a conspiracy, swear together

originFirst attested in 1537; borrowed from Latin machinātus, perfect active participle of machinor (“to invent, devise; to scheme, plot”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from māchina (“machine, contrivance, device, scheme”), an early borrowing from Ancient Greek. See also machine.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0