Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Luddite

Luddite , noun

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