Engine

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Engine \En"gine\ ([e^]n"j[i^]n), n. [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.]
           [1913 Webster]
  
                 A man hath sapiences three,
                 Memory, engine, and intellect also. --Chaucer.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Anything used to effect a purpose; any device or
        contrivance; a machine; an agent. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              You see the ways the fisherman doth take
              To catch the fish; what engines doth he make?
                                                    --Bunyan.
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              Their promises, enticements, oaths, tokens, and all
              these engines of lust.                --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
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     4. (Mach.) A compound machine by which any physical power is
        applied to produce a given physical effect.
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     {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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
           [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Engine \En"gine\, v. t.
     1. To assault with an engine. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              To engine and batter our walls.       --T. Adams.
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     2. To equip with an engine; -- said especially of steam
        vessels; as, vessels are often built by one firm and
        engined by another.
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     3. (Pronounced, in this sense, ?????.) To rack; to torture.
        [Obs.] --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  engine
       n 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)