engine
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
From Middle English engyn, from Anglo-Norman engine, Old French engin (“skill, cleverness, war machine”), from Latin ingenium (“innate or natural quality, nature, genius, a genius, an invention, (in Late Latin) a war-engine, battering-ram”), related to ingignō (“to instil by birth, implant, produce in”). Compare gin, ingenious, engineer.
Pronunciation
- (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈɛnd͡ʒɪn/
- (pin–pen merger) IPA(key): /ˈɪnd͡ʒɪn/
- (weak vowel merger) IPA(key): /ˈɛnd͡ʒən/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈend͡ʒɪn/, /ˈend͡ʒən/
- (New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈend͡ʒɘn/
- Hyphenation: en‧gine
- Rhymes: -ɛndʒɪn, (pin–pen merger) -ɪndʒɪn
Noun
engine (plural engines)
- A large construction used in warfare, such as a battering ram, catapult etc. [from 14th c.]
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act IIII, scene i:
- Their warlike Engins and munition
Exceed the forces of their martial men.
- (now archaic) A tool; a utensil or implement. [from 14th c.]
- 1714, Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees:
- Flattery must be the most powerful Argument that cou'd be used to Human Creatures. Making use of this bewitching Engine, they extoll'd the Excellency of our Nature above other Animals [...].
- 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle I, London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC, page 15, lines 248–251:
- What if the Foot, ordain'd the duſt to tread, / Or Hand, to toil, aſpir'd to be the Head? / What if the Head, the Eye, or Ear repin'd / To ſerve mere Engines to the ruling Mind?
- A complex mechanical device which converts energy into useful motion or physical effects. [from 16th c.]
- A person or group of people which influence a larger group; a driving force. [from 16th c.]
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 75:
- In France, the parliament soon became a mere engine in the hands of a few high-born and ambitious men, who had nothing in common with its interests, which were those of the people.
- The part of a car or other vehicle which provides the force for motion, now especially one powered by internal combustion. [from 19th c.]
- A self-powered vehicle, especially a locomotive, used for pulling cars along a track. [from 19th c.]
- (computing) A software or hardware system responsible for a specific technical task (usually with qualifying word). [from 20th c.]
- a graphics engine
- a physics engine
- (obsolete) Ingenuity; cunning, trickery, guile. [13th–17th c.]
- (obsolete) The result of cunning; something ingenious, a contrivance; (in negative senses) a plot, a scheme. [13th–18th c.]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 193:
- Therefore this craftie engine he did frame, / Againſt his praiſe to ſtirre vp enmitye [...].
- (obsolete) Natural talent; genius. [14th–17th c.]
- Anything used to effect a purpose; any device or contrivance; an agent.
- c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 243, column 1:
- [...] their promiſes, entiſements, oathes, tokens, and all theſe engines of luſt [...].
- 1678, John Bunyan, “The Author’s Apology for His Book”, in The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC:
- You ſee the ways the Fiſher-man doth take / To catch the Fiſh; what Engins doth he make?
Synonyms
Hyponyms
Hyponyms of engine
- aero engine
- aircraft engine
- air engine
- analytical engine
- atmospheric engine
- banking engine
- beam engine
- beer engine
- boxer engine
- chaff engine
- chemical engine
- chess engine
- combustion engine
- compound engine
- corncob engine
- Cornish engine
- crate engine
- database engine
- dental engine
- diesel engine
- difference engine
- dividing engine
- donkey engine
- draught engine
- duct engine
- East-West engine
- entry ignition engine
- ether engine
- fire engine
- four-stroke engine
- game engine
- garden engine
- gas engine
- gas engine
- graphics engine
- harmonic engine
- heat engine
- Hero engine
- human flesh search engine
- information engine
- in-line engine
- internal combustion engine
- internal-combustion engine
- ion engine
- jet engine
- jet engine
- light engine
- man engine
- marine engine
- metasearch engine
- military engine
- mill engine
- monkey engine
- Otto engine
- overhead engine
- pancake engine
- petrol engine
- physics engine
- pilot engine
- piston engine
- pony engine
- pulp engine
- pulse detonation engine
- radial engine
- raptor engine
- reaction engine
- reciprocating engine
- ringing engine
- rocket engine
- rose engine
- rotary engine
- sand engine
- search engine
- shunting engine
- siege engine
- simple engine
- software engine
- solar engine
- spit engine
- square engine
- stationary engine
- steam-engine
- steam engine
- steeple engine
- Stirling engine
- storage engine
- straight engine
- switch engine
- tandem engine
- tank engine
- tender engine
- traction engine
- twin-engine
- two-stroke engine
- U engine
- Wankel engine
- water engine
- W engine
- wind engine
- winding engine
Derived terms
Derived terms of engine
- bank engine
- crane engine
- employ a steam engine to crack a nut
- engine bay
- engine block
- engine braking
- engine cleaner
- engine compartment
- engine displacement
- engine driver
- engineer
- engine-generator
- engine generator
- engine hour
- engine house
- engine lathe
- engine mount
- engine oil
- engine order telegraph
- engine-rich
- engine room
- engine shed
- engine trouble
- engine-turned
- engine turning
- in-engine
- inline engine
- Lenoir engine
- one engine in steam
- re-engine, reengine (verbs)
- retro-engine
- search-engine-friendly
- search engine optimization
- siege-engine
- stellar engine
- V engine
Related terms
Descendants
Translations
mechanical device
|
locomotive — see locomotive
influential group
software or hardware system responsible for a specific technical task
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
engine (third-person singular simple present engines, present participle engining, simple past and past participle engined)
- (transitive, dated) To equip with an engine; said especially of steam vessels.
- Vessels are often built by one firm and engined by another.
- (transitive, obsolete) To assault with an engine.
- 1629, Thomas Adams, Plain-Dealing:
- to engine and batter our walls
- (transitive, obsolete) To contrive; to put into action.
Further reading
- “engine”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “engine”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Alternative forms
Etymology 1
From clipping of English engineering.
Pronunciation
Noun
engine
Etymology 2
Pronunciation
Noun
engine
- (Hong Kong Cantonese) engine (mechanical device; part of a vehicle; computing)
Synonyms
- (engine):
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