engine

[en-juh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR engine ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a machine for converting thermal energy into mechanical energy or power to produce force and motion.

a railroad locomotive.

a fire engine.

any mechanical contrivance.

a machine or instrument used in warfare, as a battering ram, catapult, or piece of artillery.

Obsolete. an instrument of torture, especially the rack.

Origin of engine

1250–1300; Middle English engin < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin ingenium nature, innate quality, especially mental power, hence a clever invention, equivalent to in- in-² + -genium, equivalent to gen- begetting (see kin) + -ium -ium

Related formsen·gine·less, adjectivemul·ti·en·gine, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for engine

generator, tool, appliance, instrument, motor, weapon, transformer, diesel, turbine, cylinder, apparatus, means, pot, mechanism, fan, contrivance, agent, dynamo, barrel, implement

Examples from the Web for engine

Contemporary Examples of engine

Texas has also started to become an engine of economic growth.
Will Texas Stay Texan?
David Fontana
December 29, 2014
“The fact the engine did not blow up does not mean it is not the cause of the accident,” he told the Daily Beast.
Can Richard Branson Bounce Back From His Space Disaster?
Tom Sykes
November 3, 2014
The Varsity Chiefs are awesome, and the engine for this devastating hardwood machine is point guard Buell Robinson.
Native American Basketball Team in Wyoming Have Hoop Dreams Of Their Own
Robert Silverman
August 31, 2014
But engine technology has not been static in the past decade.
Does America’s $400 Billion Stealth Jet Need Another Engine?
Bill Sweetman
July 31, 2014
And they always want to get a detailed look at the engines to see if engine failure was involved.
MH17 Is the World’s First Open-Source Air Crash Investigation
Clive Irving
July 22, 2014

Historical Examples of engine

By this engine, whose springs I am continually oiling, I play them all off.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
But when K., growing uneasy, came out into the yard, the engine had started at last.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
The total weight of the monoplane with engine and propeller is 352 pounds.
Flying Machines
W.J. Jackman and Thos. H. Russell
I did not want to start the engine until I had finished everything else.
Her Father's Daughter
Gene Stratton-Porter
Fuel consumption is a prime factor in the production of engine power.
Flying Machines
W.J. Jackman and Thos. H. Russell

British Dictionary definitions for engine

engine

noun

any machine designed to convert energy, esp heat energy, into mechanical worka steam engine; a petrol engine

a railway locomotive
(as modifier)the engine cab

military any of various pieces of equipment formerly used in warfare, such as a battering ram or gun

obsolete any instrument or deviceengines of torture

Word Origin for engine

C13: from Old French engin, from Latin ingenium nature, talent, ingenious contrivance, from in- ² + -genium, related to gignere to beget, produce

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for engine

c.1300, "mechanical device," also "skill, craft," from Old French engin "skill, cleverness," also "trick, deceit, stratagem; war machine" (12c.), from Latin ingenium "inborn qualities, talent" (see ingenious). At first meaning a trick or device, or any machine (especially military); sense of "device that converts energy to mechanical power" is 18c., especially of steam engines.

engine in Science

engine

[ĕn′jĭn]

A machine that turns energy into mechanical force or motion, especially one that gets its energy from a source of heat, such as the burning of a fuel. The efficiency of an engine is the ratio between the kinetic energy produced by the machine and the energy needed to produce it. See more at internal-combustion engine steam engine. See also motor.