noun Technical meaning of 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". 1
noun engine motor that drives sth 1
noun engine fire truck 1
noun engine train: locomotive 1
noun engine stimulus 1
noun engine A machine with moving parts that converts power into motion. 1
countable noun engine The engine of a car or other vehicle is the part that produces the power which makes the vehicle move. 0
countable noun engine An engine is also the large vehicle that pulls a railway train. 0
noun engine any machine designed to convert energy, esp heat energy, into mechanical work 0
noun engine a railway locomotive 0
noun engine (as modifier) 0
noun engine any of various pieces of equipment formerly used in warfare, such as a battering ram or gun 0
noun engine any instrument or device 0
noun engine any machine that uses energy to develop mechanical power; esp., a machine for transmitting motion to some other machine 0
noun engine a railroad locomotive 0
noun engine any instrument or machine; apparatus 0
noun engine fire engine 0
noun engine any means or device 0
noun engine The engine of a vehicle is the part that converts the energy of the fuel into mechanical energy, and produces the power which makes the vehicle move. 0
noun engine An engine is a machine designed to use energy, especially heat energy, to make a vehicle move. 0
noun engine An engine is a device for converting one form of energy into another, especially for converting other forms of energy into mechanical energy. 0
noun engine (Obsolete (No longer in use)) Ingenuity; cunning, trickery, guile. 0
noun engine (Obsolete (No longer in use)) The result of cunning; something ingenious, a contrivance; (in negative senses) a plot, a scheme. 0
noun engine (Obsolete (No longer in use)) Natural talent; genius. 0
noun engine Anything used to effect a purpose; any device or contrivance; an agent. 0
noun engine A large construction used in warfare, such as a battering ram, catapult etc. 0
noun engine (now archaic) A tool; a utensil or implement. 0
noun engine A complex mechanical device which converts energy into useful motion or physical effects. 0
noun engine A person or group of people which influence a larger group; a driving force. 0
noun engine The part of a car or other vehicle which provides the force for motion, now especially one powered by internal combustion. 0
noun engine A self-powered vehicle, especially a locomotive, used for pulling cars along a track. 0
noun engine (computing) A software or hardware system responsible for a specific technical task (usually with qualifying word). 0
verb engine (Obsolete (No longer in use)) To assault with an engine. 0
verb engine (dated) To equip with an engine; said especially of steam vessels. 0
verb engine (Obsolete (No longer in use)) To rack; to torture. 0
