engine

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}, {engine}, {locomotive engine}, {railway
       locomotive}]
    4: an instrument or machine that is used in warfare, such as a
       battering ram, catapult, artillery piece, etc.; "medieval
       engines of war"
    

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.]
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               A man hath sapiences three,
               Memory, engine, and intellect also. --Chaucer.
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   2. Anything used to effect a purpose; any device or
      contrivance; a machine; an agent. --Shak.
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            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.
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   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.
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   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.
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Engine \En"gine\, v. t.
   1. To assault with an engine. [Obs.]
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            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.
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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.
    

engine

   <jargon> 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)
    

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