Webster's Dictionary, 1913
Enforcive adjective Serving to enforce or constrain; compulsive. Marsion. -- En*for"cive*ly , adverb
Enforest transitive verb To turn into a forest.
Enform transitive verb [ French
enformer . See
Inform .]
To form; to fashion. [ Obsolete]
Spenser.
Enfouldred adjective [ Prefix en- + Old French fouldre , foldre , lightning, French foudre , Latin fulgur .] Mixed with, or emitting, lightning. [ Obsolete] "With foul enfouldred smoke." Spenser.
Enframe transitive verb To inclose, as in a frame.
Enfranchise transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Enfranchised ;
present participle & verbal noun Enfranchising .] [ Prefix
en- +
franchise : confer French
enfranchir .]
1. To set free; to liberate from slavery, prison, or any binding power. Bacon. 2. To endow with a franchise; to incorporate into a body politic and thus to invest with civil and political privileges; to admit to the privileges of a freeman. 3. To receive as denizens; to naturalize; as, to enfranchise foreign words. I. Watts.
Enfranchisement noun
1. Releasing from slavery or custody. Shak. 2. Admission to the freedom of a corporation or body politic; investiture with the privileges of free citizens.
Enfranchisement of copyhold (Eng. Law) , the conversion of a copyhold estate into a freehold. Mozley & W.
Enfranchiser noun One who enfranchises.
Enfree transitive verb To set free. [ Obsolete] "The enfreed Antenor." Shak.
Enfreedom transitive verb To set free. [ Obsolete] Shak.
Enfreeze transitive verb To freeze; to congeal. [ Obsolete]
Thou hast enfrozened her disdainful breast.
Spenser.
Enfroward transitive verb To make froward, perverse, or ungovernable. [ Obsolete] Sir E. Sandys.
Engage transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Engaged ;
present participle & verbal noun Engaging .] [ French
engager ; prefix
en- (L.
in ) +
gage pledge, pawn. See
Gage .]
1. To put under pledge; to pledge; to place under obligations to do or forbear doing something, as by a pledge, oath, or promise; to bind by contract or promise. "I to thee
engaged a prince's word."
Shak. 2. To gain for service; to bring in as associate or aid; to enlist; as, to engage friends to aid in a cause; to engage men for service. 3. To gain over; to win and attach; to attract and hold; to draw. Good nature engages everybody to him.
Addison. 4. To employ the attention and efforts of; to occupy; to engross; to draw on. Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage .
Pope. Taking upon himself the difficult task of engaging him in conversation.
Hawthorne. 5. To enter into contest with; to encounter; to bring to conflict. A favorable opportunity of engaging the enemy.
Ludlow. 6. (Machinery) To come into gear with; as, the teeth of one cogwheel engage those of another, or one part of a clutch engages the other part.
Engage intransitive verb 1. To promise or pledge one's self; to enter into an obligation; to become bound; to warrant. How proper the remedy for the malady, I engage not.
Fuller. 2. To embark in a business; to take a part; to employ or involve one's self; to devote attention and effort; to enlist; as, to engage in controversy. 3. To enter into conflict; to join battle; as, the armies engaged in a general battle. 4. (Machinery) To be in gear, as two cogwheels working together.
Engaged adjective 1. Occupied; employed; busy. 2. Pledged; promised; especially, having the affections pledged; promised in marriage; affianced; betrothed. 3. Greatly interested; of awakened zeal; earnest. 4. Involved; esp., involved in a hostile encounter; as, the engaged ships continued the fight. Engaged column .
(Architecture) Same as Attached column . See under Attach , transitive verb
Engagedly adverb With attachment; with interest; earnestly.
Engagedness noun The state of being deeply interested; earnestness; zeal.
Engagement noun [ Confer French
engagement .]
1. The act of engaging, pledging, enlisting, occupying, or entering into contest. 2. The state of being engaged, pledged or occupied; specif., a pledge to take some one as husband or wife. 3. That which engages; engrossing occupation; employment of the attention; obligation by pledge, promise, or contract; an enterprise embarked in; as, his engagements prevented his acceptance of any office. Religion, which is the chief engagement of our league.
Milton. 4. (Mil.) An action; a fight; a battle. In hot engagement with the Moors.
Dryden. 5. (Machinery) The state of being in gear; as, one part of a clutch is brought into engagement with the other part. Syn. -- Vocation; business; employment; occupation; promise; stipulation; betrothal; word; battle; combat; fight; contest; conflict. See
Battle .
Engager noun One who enters into an engagement or agreement; a surety. Several sufficient citizens were engagers .
Wood.
Engaging adjective Tending to draw the attention or affections; attractive; as, engaging manners or address. -- En*ga"ging*ly , adverb - - En*ga"ging*ness , noun
Engaging and disengaging gear or machinery , that in which, or by means of which, one part is alternately brought into gear or out of gear with another part, as occasion may require.
Engallant transitive verb To make a gallant of. [ Obsolete] B. Jonson.
Engaol transitive verb [ Prefix
en- +
gaol : confer Old French
engaoler ,
engeoler . See
Gaol , and confer
Enjail .]
To put in jail; to imprison. [ Obsolete]
Shak.
Engarboil transitive verb [ Prefix en- + garboil .] To throw into disorder; to disturb. [ Obsolete] "To engarboil the church." Bp. Montagu.
Engarland transitive verb [ Prefix en- + garland : confer French enguirlander .] To encircle with a garland, or with garlands. Sir P. Sidney.
Engarrison transitive verb To garrison; to put in garrison, or to protect by a garrison. Bp. Hall.
Engastrimuth noun [ Greek ...; ... in + ... belly + ... to speak: confer French engastrimythe .] An ventriloquist. [ Obsolete]
Engender transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Engendered ;
present participle & verbal noun Engendering .] [ French
engender , Latin
ingenerare ;
in + generare to beget. See
Generate , and confer
Ingenerate .]
1. To produce by the union of the sexes; to beget. [ R.]
2. To cause to exist; to bring forth; to produce; to sow the seeds of; as, angry words engender strife. Engendering friendship in all parts of the common wealth.
Southey. Syn. -- To breed; generate; procreate; propagate; occasion; call forth; cause; excite; develop.
Engender intransitive verb 1. To assume form; to come into existence; to be caused or produced. Thick clouds are spread, and storms engender there.
Dryden. 2. To come together; to meet, as in sexual embrace. "I saw their mouths
engender ."
Massinger.
Engender noun One who, or that which, engenders.
Engendrure noun [ Old French engendreure .] The act of generation. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.
Engild transitive verb To gild; to make splendent. Fair Helena, who most engilds the night.
Shak.
Engine noun [ French
engin skill, machine, engine, Latin
ingenium natural capacity, invention;
in in + the root of
gignere to produce. See
Genius , and confer
Ingenious ,
Gin a snare.]
1. (Pronounced, in this sense, .............) Natural capacity; ability; skill. [ Obsolete]
A man hath sapiences three,
Memory, engine , and intellect also.
Chaucer. 2. Anything used to effect a purpose; any device or contrivance; an agent. Shak. You see the ways the fisherman doth take
To catch the fish; what engines doth he make?
Bunyan. Their promises, enticements, oaths, tokens, and all these engines of lust.
Shak. 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. 4. (Machinery) A compound machine by which any physical power is applied to produce a given physical effect. Engine driver ,
one who manages an engine; specifically, the engineer of a locomotive. --
Engine lathe .
(Machinery) See under Lathe . --
Engine tool ,
a machine tool. J. Whitworth. --
Engine turning (Fine Arts) ,
a method of ornamentation by means of a rose engine. » 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.
Engine transitive verb 1. To assault with an engine. [ Obsolete]
To engine and batter our walls.
T. Adams. 2. To equip with an engine; -- said especially of steam vessels; as, vessels are often built by one firm and engined by another. 3. (Pronounced, in this sense, ................) To rack; to torture. [ Obsolete]
Chaucer.
Engine-sized adjective Sized by a machine, and not while in the pulp; -- said of paper. Knight.
Engine-type generator (Electricity) A generator having its revolving part carried on the shaft of the driving engine.
Engineer noun [ Middle English
enginer : confer Old French
engignier , French
ingénieur . See
Engine ,
noun ]
1. A person skilled in the principles and practice of any branch of engineering. See under Engineering , noun 2. One who manages as engine, particularly a steam engine; an engine driver. 3. One who carries through an enterprise by skillful or artful contrivance; an efficient manager. [ Colloq.]
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 .
Engineer transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Engineered ;
present participle & verbal noun 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. 2. To use contrivance and effort for; to guide the course of; to manage; as, to engineer a bill through Congress. [ Colloq.]
Engineer Corps (a) In the United States army, the Corps of Engineers a corps of officers and enlisted men consisting of one band and three battalions of engineers commanded by a brigadier general, whose title is Chief of Engineers. It has charge of the construction of fortifications for land and seacoast defense, the improvement of rivers and harbors, the construction of lighthouses, etc., and, in time of war, supervises the engineering operations of the armies in the field. (b) In the United States navy, a corps made up of the engineers, which was amalgamated with the line by act of March 3, 1899. It consisted of assistant and passed assistant engineers , ranking with ensigns and lieutenants, chief engineers , ranking from lieutenant to captain, and engineer in chief , ranking with commodore and having charge of the Bureau of Steam Engineering.
Engineering noun Originally, the art of managing engines; in its modern and extended sense, the art and science by which the mechanical properties of matter are made useful to man in structures and machines; the occupation and work of an engineer. » 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.
Engineman noun ;
plural Enginemen A man who manages, or waits on, an engine.
Enginer noun [ See
Engineer .]
A contriver; an inventor; a contriver of engines. [ Obsolete]
Shak.
Enginery noun 1. The act or art of managing engines, or artillery. Milton. 2. Engines, in general; instruments of war. Training his devilish enginery .
Milton. 3. Any device or contrivance; machinery; structure or arrangement. Shenstone.
Enginous adjective [ Old French
engignos . See
Ingenious .]
1. Pertaining to an engine. [ Obsolete]
That one act gives, like an enginous wheel,
Motion to all.
Decker. 2. Contrived with care; ingenious. [ Obsolete]
The mark of all enginous drifts.
B. Jonson.
Engird transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Engirded or
Engirt ;
present participle & verbal noun Engirding .] [ Prefix
en- +
gird . Confer
Ingirt .]
To gird; to encompass. Shak.
Engirdle transitive verb To surround as with a girdle; to girdle.
Engirt transitive verb To engird. [ R.] Collins.
Engiscope noun [ Greek ... near + -scope .] (Opt.) A kind of reflecting microscope. [ Obsolete]
Englaimed adjective [ Middle English engleimen to smear, gleim birdlime, glue, phlegm.] Clammy. [ Obsolete]
Engle noun [ Middle English
enghle to coax or cajole. Confer
Angle a hook, one easily enticed, a gull,
Ingle .]
A favorite; a paramour; an ingle. [ Obsolete]
B. Jonson.
Engle transitive verb To cajole or coax, as favorite. [ Obsolete]
I 'll presently go and engle some broker.
B. Jonson.