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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Engine \En"gine\ ([e^]n"j[i^]n), noun [F. engin skill, machine, engine, L. ingenium natural capacity, invention; in in + the root of gignere to produce. See {Genius}, and cf. {Ingenious}, {Gin} a snare.] 1.
Note: (Pronounced, in this sense, [e^]n*j[=e]n".) Natural capacity; ability; skill. [Obs.]
A man hath sapiences three, Memory, engine, and intellect also. --Chaucer.
2. Anything used to effect a purpose; any device or contrivance; a machine; an agent. --Shak.
You see the ways the fisherman doth take To catch the fish; what engines doth he make? --Bunyan.
Their promises, enticements, oaths, tokens, and all these engines of lust. --Shak.
3. Any instrument by which any effect is produced; especially, an instrument or machine of war or torture. ''Terrible engines of death.'' --Sir W. Raleigh.
4. (Mach.) A compound machine by which any physical power is applied to produce a given physical effect.
{Engine driver}, one who manages an engine; specifically, the engineer of a locomotive.
{Engine lathe}. (Mach.) See under {Lathe}.
{Engine tool}, a machine tool. --J. Whitworth.
{Engine turning} (Fine Arts), a method of ornamentation by means of a rose engine.
Note: The term engine is more commonly applied to massive machines, or to those giving power, or which produce some difficult result. Engines, as motors, are distinguished according to the source of power, as steam engine, air engine, electro-magnetic engine; or the purpose on account of which the power is applied, as fire engine, pumping engine, locomotive engine; or some peculiarity of construction or operation, as single-acting or double-acting engine, high-pressure or low-pressure engine, condensing engine, etc.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Engine \En"gine\, verb (used with an object)
1. To assault with an engine. [Obs.]
To engine and batter our walls. --T. Adams.
2. To equip with an engine; -- said especially of steam vessels; as, vessels are often built by one firm and engined by another.
3. (Pronounced, in this sense, ?????.) To rack; to torture. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
engine
noun
1: motor that converts thermal energy to mechanical work
2: something used to achieve a purpose; "an engine of change"
3: a wheeled vehicle consisting of a self-propelled engine that is used to draw trains along railway tracks [syn: {locomotive}, {locomotive engine}, {railway locomotive}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
114 Moby Thesaurus words for "engine": AC motor, Corliss engine, Otto engine, Wankel engine, aeromotor, air engine, alembic, anvil, apparatus, appliance, arc-jet engine, axial-flow turbojet, beam engine, bearings, blowing engine, boiler, caldron, cam, cam engine, camshaft, capacitor motor, commutator motor, compensated motor, compound motor, condensing engine, connecting rod, convenience, crankcase, crankshaft, crucible, cylinder, cylinder head, diagonal engine, differential, direct-acting engine, donkey engine, drive, dynamo, dynamotor, electric motor, enginery, facility, fire engine, fixture, flywheel, gas jet, gas turbine engine, gearbox, gears, generator, hot-air engine, hydraulic engine, hydro-jet, impulse duct engine, inverted engine, ion engine, ion rocket, jet, lathe, locomotive, machine, machinery, mechanical aid, mechanical device, mechanism, melting pot, mortar, motive power, motor, outboard motor, pancake engine, piston, piston engine, piston rod, piston-valve engine, plasma engine, portable engine, power plant, power source, propeller-jet engine, propjet, pulse-jet engine, pumping engine, radial engine, ramjet, ramjet engine, reciprocating engine, refrigerating engine, resojet engine, retort, rocket engine, rocket motor, rotary engine, rotary-piston engine, rotor motor, servomotor, shunt motor, steam engine, supercharged engine, synchronous motor, test tube, three-phase motor, traction engine, transducer, transformer, transmission, turbine, turbojet, turbojet engine, turboprop, utility, variable-speed motor, vernier engine, vertical engine
From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:
engine n.
1. A piece of hardware that encapsulates some function but can't be used without some kind of {front end}. Today we have, especially, 'print engine': the guts of a laser printer. 2. An analogous piece of software; notionally, one that does a lot of noisy crunching, such as a 'database engine'.
The hacker senses of 'engine' are actually close to its original, pre-Industrial-Revolution sense of a skill, clever device, or instrument (the word is cognate to 'ingenuity'). This sense had not been completely eclipsed by the modern connotation of power-transducing machinery in Charles Babbage's time, which explains why he named the stored-program computer that he designed in 1844 the 'Analytical Engine'.
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
engine
1. A piece of {hardware} that encapsulates some function but can't be used without some kind of {front end}. Today we have, especially, "{print engine}": the guts of a {laser printer}. 2. An analogous piece of software; notionally, one that does a lot of noisy {crunching}, such as a "database engine", or "{search engine}". The hackish senses of "engine" are actually close to its original, pre-Industrial-Revolution sense of a skill, clever device, or instrument (the word is cognate to "ingenuity"). This sense had not been completely eclipsed by the modern connotation of power-transducing machinery in {Charles Babbage}'s time, which explains why he named the stored-program computer that he designed in 1844 the "{Analytical Engine}". [{Jargon File}] (1996-05-31)
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