engine

English

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engine

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Engines

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”), from ingenitum, past participle of ingignō (“to instil by birth, implant, produce in”). Compare gin, ingenious, engineer.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɛnd͡ʒɪn/

  • Audio (US)

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  • Audio (Texas)

    (file)

• (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, -endʒɪn, -endʒən, -ɪndʒɪn

Noun

engine (plural engines)

1. A large construction used in warfare, such as a battering ram, catapult etc.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: 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.

2. (now archaic) A tool; a utensil or implement.
   • 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 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?

3. A complex mechanical device which converts energy into useful motion or physical effects.
4. A person or group of people which influence a larger group; a driving force.
   • 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.

6. The part of a car or other vehicle which provides the force for motion, now especially one powered by internal combustion.
7. A self-powered vehicle, especially a locomotive, used for pulling cars along a track.
9. (computing) A software or hardware system responsible for a specific technical task (usually with qualifying word).

   a graphics engine

   a physics engine

10. (obsolete) Ingenuity; cunning, trickery, guile.
11. (obsolete) The result of cunning; something ingenious, a contrivance; (in negative senses) a plot, a scheme.
    • 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 [...].

12. (obsolete) Natural talent; genius.
13. 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , 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 Ponder , →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, , 1928, →OCLC:

      You ſee the ways the Fiſher-man doth take / To catch the Fiſh; what Engins doth he make?

Synonyms

• motor
• locomotive

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• → Afrikaans: enjin
• → Bengali: ইঞ্জিন (injin)
• → Hindi: इंजन (iñjan)
• → Japanese: エンジン
  • → Hakka: 引擎 (ên-chín)
  • → Min Nan: 引擎 (ia̋n-jín)
• → Malay: enjin
  • Indonesian: enjin
• → Scottish Gaelic: einnsean
• → Swahili: injini
• → Shanghainese: 引擎 (in¹-jin⁶)
  • → Chinese: 引擎 (yǐnqíng)

Translations

Verb

engine (third-person singular simple present engines, present participle engining, simple past and past participle engined)

1. (transitive, dated) To equip with an engine; said especially of steam vessels.

   Vessels are often built by one firm and engined by another.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To assault with an engine.
   • 1629, Thomas Adams, Plain-Dealing:

     to engine and batter our walls

3. (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

• ginnee

Chinese

Alternative forms

• N展 (en¹ zin²), N剪
• engin

Etymology 1

From clipping of English engineering.

Pronunciation

Noun

engine

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) engineering industry; engineer
2. (Hong Kong Cantonese, university slang) engineering

Etymology 2

From English engine.

Pronunciation

Noun

engine

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) engine (mechanical device; part of a vehicle; computing)

Synonyms

• (engine):