engine
pronunciation
How to pronounce engine in British English:
UK [ˈendʒɪn]
How to pronounce engine in American English:
US [ˈendʒɪn]
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- Noun:
- motor that converts thermal energy to mechanical work
- something used to achieve a purpose
- a wheeled vehicle consisting of a self-propelled engine that is used to draw trains along railway tracks
Word Origin
- engine
- engine: [13] The underlying etymological meaning of engine is ‘natural talent’. It comes ultimately from Latin ingenium (source also of English ingenious) which was formed from the base *gen- (as in genetic) denoting ‘reproduction’ and meant literally ‘skill or aptitude one was born with’. Abstract meanings related to this (such as ‘ingenuity’ and ‘genius’) have now died out in English (which acquired the word via Old French engin), but what remains is a more specific strand of meaning in the Latin word – ‘clever device, contrivance’.Originally this was an abstract concept (often used in a bad sense ‘trick, cunning ruse’), but as early as about 1300 there is evidence of a more concrete application in English to a ‘mechanical device’. The word’s modern use for ‘machine producing motion’ originates in its early 19thcentury application to the steam engine. Engineer [14] comes via Old French engigneor from medieval Latin ingeniātōr, a derivative of the verb ingeniāre ‘contrive’, which in turn came from ingenium.=> gin, ingenious
- engine (n.)
- c. 1300, "mechanical device," especially one used in war; "manner of construction," also "skill, craft, innate ability; deceitfulness, trickery," from Old French engin "skill, wit, cleverness," also "trick, deceit, stratagem; war machine" (12c.), from Latin ingenium "inborn qualities, talent" (see ingenious), in Late Latin "a war engine, battering ram" (Tertullian, Isidore of Seville). Sense of "device that converts energy to mechanical power" is 18c.; in 19c. especially of steam engines.
Example
- 1. Why isn 't this search engine friendly ?
- 2. Daimler built the riding car to test the engine .
- 3. Indeed , china had built a form of steam engine before james watt .
- 4. He walked along beside one of the trains until he came to the engine .
- 5. London is britain 's economic engine , generating more than one-fifth of its wealth .