one of the 19th century English workmen who destroyed laborsaving machinery that they thought would cause unemployment
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Luddite \Lud"dite\, n. One of a number of riotous persons in England, who for six years (1811-17) tried to prevent the use of labor-saving machinery by breaking it, burning factories, etc.; -- so called from Ned Lud, a half-witted man who some years previously had broken stocking frames. --J. & H. Smith. --H. Martineau.