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. (Pronounced, in this sense, ) 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Mach.) A compound machine by which any physical power is applied to produce a given physical effect. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 ]

☞ 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 ]

v. t. 1. To assault with an engine. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To engine and batter our walls. T. Adams. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To equip with an engine; -- said especially of steam vessels; as, vessels are often built by one firm and engined by another. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Pronounced, in this sense, &unr_;&unr_;&unr_;&unr_;&unr_;.) To rack; to torture. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Engineered p. pr. & vb. n. Engineering. ] 1. To lay out or construct, as an engineer; to perform the work of an engineer on; as, to engineer a road. J. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To use contrivance and effort for; to guide the course of; to manage; as, to engineer a bill through Congress. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. enginer: cf. OF. engignier, F. ingénieur. See Engine, n. ] 1. A person skilled in the principles and practice of any branch of engineering; as, a civil engineer; an electronic engineer; a chemical engineer. See under Engineering, n. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

2. One who manages as engine, particularly a steam engine; an engine driver. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. One who carries through an enterprise by skillful or artful contrivance; an efficient manager. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Civil engineer, a person skilled in the science of civil engineering. --
Military engineer, one who executes engineering works of a military nature. See under Engineering. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Originally, the art of managing engines; in its modern and extended sense, the art and science by which the properties of matter are made useful to man, whether in structures, machines, chemical substances, or living organisms; the occupation and work of an engineer. In the modern sense, the application of mathematics or systematic knowledge beyond the routine skills of practise, for the design of any complex system which performs useful functions, may be considered as engineering, including such abstract tasks as designing software (software engineering). [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

☞ In a comprehensive sense, engineering includes architecture as a mechanical art, in distinction from architecture as a fine art. It was formerly divided into military engineering, which is the art of designing and constructing offensive and defensive works, and civil engineering, in a broad sense, as relating to other kinds of public works, machinery, etc. --
Civil engineering, in modern usage, is strictly the art of planning, laying out, and constructing fixed public works, such as railroads, highways, canals, aqueducts, water works, bridges, lighthouses, docks, embankments, breakwaters, dams, tunnels, etc. --
Mechanical engineering relates to machinery, such as steam engines, machine tools, mill work, etc. --
Mining engineering deals with the excavation and working of mines, and the extraction of metals from their ores, etc. Engineering is further divided into steam engineering, gas engineering, agricultural engineering, topographical engineering, electrical engineering, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Enginemen A man who manages, or waits on, an engine. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Engineer. ] A contriver; an inventor; a contriver of engines. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act or art of managing engines, or artillery. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Engines, in general; instruments of war. [ 1913 Webster ]

Training his devilish enginery. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Any device or contrivance; machinery; structure or arrangement. Shenstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Sized by a machine, and not while in the pulp; -- said of paper. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Elec.) A generator having its revolving part carried on the shaft of the driving engine. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]