combine

1. A piece of farm equipment that harvests grain/corn/etc. The whole plant is cut down and the kernels are removed. The kernels are then stored in a tank, while other material, such as stalks, is deposited on the ground. 2. A metaphor used by Chief Bromdon in Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to describe the shaping influences in America. Media, government, authority figures, the social class system, citizens, greed, etc. shape members of American society; any individuals are chewed up until they are left naive and docile - certain qualities are kept, just like a combine in the field.