# engine

Pronunciation: say "EN-jin" /ˈɛnd͡ʒɪn/

## Noun

1. A machine that turns energy, such as heat from burning fuel, into motion, especially the one that drives a car or other vehicle.
   - Simple: A machine that uses fuel or power to make things move, like the one in a car.
   - _The mechanic traced the rattle to a loose mount on the engine._
   - _Many modern engines shut off automatically at stoplights to save fuel._
2. A software or hardware system dedicated to a specific technical task, usually named with a qualifying word, as in search engine or physics engine.
   - Simple: A computer program or part that does one main job, like searching or showing pictures.
   - _The browser's rendering engine turns raw code into the page you actually see._
   - _Database engines handle storage and retrieval behind the scenes._
3. A person or group whose energy and influence drive a larger group forward; a driving force.
   - Simple: A person or group that pushes a bigger group forward and makes things happen.
   - _The midfielder is the engine of the squad, dictating its tempo from the center of the field._
   - _Volunteer organizers served as the engine behind the city's annual festival for decades._
4. A locomotive: the self-powered vehicle that pulls or pushes a train or moves cars along a track.
   - Simple: The vehicle with the motor that pulls or pushes a train along the track.
   - _The freight train needed two engines to climb the steep grade._
   - _The engine uncoupled from the train and rolled slowly into the yard._
5. Anything used to accomplish a purpose; a device, contrivance, or agent.
   - Simple: Anything that a person uses to get something done.
   - _Reformers saw free public schools as an engine of social change._
   - _Propaganda served as the regime's chief engine of persuasion._
6. Any of various large machines used in war, such as catapults and battering rams.
   - Simple: A large machine used in war, such as a catapult or battering ram.
   - _Under cover of night, the besiegers wheeled a massive engine up to the gates._
   - _Medieval armies dismantled their engines and carted the timbers between sieges._

## Verb

7. To fit something, especially a steamship, with an engine or engines. *(dated)*
   - Simple: To put an engine into a ship or other vehicle.
12. To contrive or devise something; to put a plan or device into action. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To think up a plan or trick and make it happen.
13. To attack or assault with a military engine such as a battering ram or catapult. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To attack a wall or castle with a big war machine.

## Noun

8. A tool, utensil, or implement of any kind. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A tool or instrument used for doing work.
9. A product of cunning; an ingenious contrivance, or, in a negative sense, a plot or scheme. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A cleverly made device or plan, sometimes a plot or trick meant to deceive someone.
10. Ingenuity or cunning; craft, trickery, or guile. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Cleverness or skill in thinking, often used to trick people.
11. The natural talent or intellectual power a person is born with; genius. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Natural skill or talent that a person is born with.

## Origin

Latin ingenium ("innate or natural quality, nature, genius, an invention," and in Late Latin a war-engine), related to ingignō ("to instil by birth, implant"), became Old French engin ("skill, cleverness, war machine") and Anglo-Norman engine, and then Middle English engyn. Ingenious and engineer are related words.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/engine (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).