dea ex machina

English edit

An alteration of Latin deus ex māchinā in English, substituting the masculine or epicene deus (“god”) with the feminine dea (“goddess”).

dea ex machina (plural deae ex machina)

A female deus ex machina; a providential intervention (in a story etc.) from a female force or character.
- 1999, Philip Pullman, “The Path Through the Wood”, in Daemon Voices, Vintage, published 2017, page 79:
  That's the end of her story—the Cinderella path—but it's not the end of her life, which is just as well, because the poor little rat-boy ends up in desperate need of a dea ex machina in order to save him from the terrible fate towards which the path of his story seems to be taking him.