(in the past )旧时 a restaurant in which food and drink were bought from machines 自动餐馆(旧时用自动售卖机供应食物的餐馆) Word Originlate 17th cent. (denoting an automaton): from German, from French automate, from Latin automaton from Greek, neuter of automatos ‘acting of itself’, from autos ‘self’. The current sense dates from the early 20th cent.