Engine Definition
ĕnjĭn
engines
noun
engines
Any machine that uses energy to develop mechanical power; esp., a machine for transmitting motion to some other machine.
Webster's New World
Such a machine distinguished from an electric, spring-driven, or hydraulic motor by its use of a fuel.
American Heritage
Any instrument or machine; apparatus.
Engines of warfare, engines of torture.
Webster's New World
A railroad locomotive.
Webster's New World
Any means or device.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
- propjet
- hydro-jet
- servomotor
- railway locomotive
- locomotive engine
- locomotive
- sustainer
- steam
- retrorocket
- ramjet
- ram
- radial
- plasma
- outboard
- newcomen
verb
To equip with an engine or engines.
American Heritage
Other Word Forms of Engine
Noun
Singular:
enginePlural:
enginesOrigin of Engine
-
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 ingignere (“to instil by birth, implant, produce in”). Compare gin, ingenious.
From Wiktionary
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Middle English engin skill, machine from Old French innate ability from Latin ingenium genə- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
