| 释义 |
▪ I. engine, n.|ˈɛndʒɪn|
Forms: α. 4–7 engin, 4–8 engyn(e, 4–6 engynne, (5 pl. engenys, 7 enging), 4– engine. β. 5–8 ingin(e, 6–7 ingyn(n)e, (5–6 yngyne, 6 injyne, ingen, 7 ingene). See also ingeny.
[a. OF. engin, corresp. to Pr. engen, engein, engienh, Sp. ingenio, Pg. engenho, It. ingegno:—L. ingenium (whence ingenious), f. in in + gen- root of gignĕre to beget.
The β forms, some of which are directly influenced by the Lat. ingenium, appear to occur after 16th c. only in senses 1–3.]
†1.
a. Native talent, mother wit; genius. Obs.
From the middle of 17th c. app. only Sc. in β forms, retaining the older accentuation inˈgine, and prob. regarded as a distinct word from engine.
αc1386Chaucer Sec. Nun's T. 339 A man hath sapiences thre, Memorie, engin, and intellect also. c1391― Astrol. Prol. 2, I ne usurpe nat to haue fownde this werk of my labour or of myn engin. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 276/1 Saynt Augustyn concluded all the other by engyn and by scyence. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. viii. [ix.] (Arb.) 95 Such..made most of their workes by translation..few or none of their owne engine. 1632Lithgow Trav. ix. (1682) 379 High Press thy [Etna's] Flames..But higher moves the scope of my Engine.
β1477Norton Ord. Alch. Proem, in Ashm. (1652) 7 It is no small ingine To know all secreats pertaining to the Myne. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 100 It will transcend the strenth of my ingyne, To tell ȝow all thair godlines diuyne. a1572Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. (1846) I. 64 Kennedy..one of excellent injyne in Scotish poesye. 1598B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. v. iii, If thy master..be angrie with thee, I shall suspect his ingine, while I know him for't. 1599James I βασιλ. Δωρον To Rdr., Which I wrote for exercise of my own ingene. 1651Fuller Abel Rediv., Colet (1867) I. 117 Great respect had wont to be had both to the ingine and ingenuity of the intrants. 1785Burns 1st Ep. Lapraik v, A' that ken't him round declar'd He had ingine. 18..Scott Monast. 531/2 A man of quick ingine and deep wisdom.
†b. Natural disposition, temper. Chiefly Sc.
c1565Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. 55 (Jam.), Wikkitness, to which he was given allenarly, through the impiety of his own ingyne. 1572Lament. Lady Scot. in Scot. Poems 16th C. II. 239 To quhom can I this throuch propyne Bot unto one of excellent ingyne. 1600Fairfax Tasso i. lxxxiii, His fell ingine His grauer age did somewhat mitigate.
†2.
a. Skill in contriving, ingenuity; also, in bad sense, artfulness, cunning, trickery. Obs.
c1320Sir Beues 2003 Ac now icham from him ifare Þrouȝ godes grace & min engyn. c1320Seuyn Sag. (W.) viii. 1959 Gold and siluer to wille he wan Bi losengerie an bi engin. 1393Gower Conf. II. 83 The women were of great engine. c1450Merlin i. 20, I am the sone of the enmy that begiled my moder with engyn. 15..tr. Sir T. More's Edw. V (1641) 2 By what crafty engin he first attempted his ungracious purpose. 1549Compl. Scot. Ep. Q. Mary 4 Be ane diuyne miracle, rather nor be the ingyne of men. a1628B. Jonson in Sir J. Beaumont Bosworth F. 13 All Monuments of Praise, That Art, or Engine, or the Strength can raise.
†b. In OF. phrase mal engin evil machination: see malengin. Also in similar sense, false engin, malicious engin. Obs.
c1440Partonope 1440 Thought his counsell was fals engyne. 1545T. Raynalde Womans booke B. 4 This knowledge also ministreth yet a farther ingyn and polycye to inuent infynitely the better how, etc. 1557K. Arthur (Copland) iv. xii, Brought to the purpose by fals engyn and treason and by false enchauntement. 1637–50Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 156 Their malicious ingyns in conspyreing aganis Kirk, King, and countrey.
†3. An instance or a product of ingenuity; an artifice, contrivance, device, plot; and in bad sense, a snare, wile (cf. 5 c. and gin n.1); also, in weaker sense, an appliance, means.
The later instances are partly fig. from 4, 5 c, or 7.
a1300Floriz & Bl. 759 He het him telle his engin Hu he to blauncheflur com in. c1400Rom. Rose 4549 The develles engynnes wolde me take. c1430Lydg. MS. Cott. Aug. iv. 28 b, By what engyne the fylthes fer nor nere Were borne awaye. 1477Norton Ord. Alch. i. in Ashm. (1652) 20 To make trew..Gold is noe ingin, Except..the Philosophers medicine. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccccxiv. 724 To fynde way and engin howe to passe the bridge. 1583Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 18 Shee [Juno] soght al possibil engins In surging billows too touze thee coompanie Troian. 1625Bacon Ess. Superst. (Arb.) 345 Astronomers..did faigne Eccentricks, and Epicycles, and such Engines of Orbs. 1635Quarles Embl. iii. 9 (D.) The hidden engines, and the snares that lie So undiscovered. 1667Milton P.L. i. 750 Nor did he scape By all his engins. 1683Temple Mem. Wks. 1731 I. 376 The Dutch and the Spaniards set on Foot all the Engines they could. 1719Cordial Low Spirits I. 129 Falshood is the only Engine they have left to defend the Reputation of the Crape. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. II. xxxiii. 252 The warrior could dexterously employ the dark engines of policy.
4. A mechanical contrivance, machine, implement, tool; in 15th c. also collect. apparatus, machinery. arch. in gen. sense. (For fig. uses see 10.)
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 8816 Geauntz..sette þem [the stones at Stonehenge] on an hil ful hey With engyns fulle queyntely. a1400–50Alexander 5292 Þis selere was be sorsry selcuthely foundid, Made for a mervall to meeue with engine. c1440Promp. Parv. 140 Engynne, or ingyne, machina. c1550Sir J. Balfour Practicks (1754) 38 He or sche sall be put and haldin in the stokkis or sic uther ingine. 1571Mem. Ripon (1882) I. 309 Ropes and other yngynes. 1635E. Pagitt Christianogr. iii. (1636) 48 The Image with all his engines was openly showed at Pauls crosse. 1662Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 58 Some thieves (with what engines unknown)..forced it [a chest] open. 1664Power Exp. Philos. Pref. 7 Our modern Engine the Microscope. 1712–4Pope Rape Lock iii. 132 He..extends The little engine [a pair of scissors] on his fingers' ends. 1727Swift Gulliver i. viii. 87 With ropes and engines, I made a shift to turn it. 1747Carte Hist. Eng. I. 535 Being drawn from his horse by an engine with an iron hook at the end. 1866Bryant Death Slavery vii, At thy feet Scourges and engines of restraint and pain.
5. spec.
a. A machine or instrument used in warfare. Formerly sometimes applied to all offensive weapons, but chiefly and now exclusively to those of large size and having mechanism, e.g. a battering-ram, catapult, piece of ordnance, etc.
a1300Cursor M. 9889 (Cott.), Na maner engine o were Mai cast þar-til it for to dere. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 429 Vespacianus destourbed þe wal wiþ þe stroke of an engyne [Higden arietis]. c1440Bone Flor. 859 And they wythowte, yngynes bende, And stones to the walles they sende. 1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Hebr. xi. 30 Sodaynely to fall without any violence of Engynes. 1598Hakluyt Voy. I. 21 They haue expelled Lions, Beares, & such like vntamed beasts, with their bowes, and other engines. 1667Milton P.L. vi. 518 Whereof to found their Engins and their Balls. 1676D'Urfey Mad. Fickle v. ii, And I shall make a private Room in your guts for this Engine here [a rapier]. 1719De Foe Crusoe (1858) 409 Bows and arrows, great clubs..and such like engines of war. 1737Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 II. 292 The stage and the press..became battering engines against religion. 1777Watson Philip II, (1839) 405 Farnese..got possession of more than thirty of the enemy's ships, with all the artillery and engines that were on board. 1843Prescott Mexico (1850) I. 365 They had no weapons to cope with these terrible engines.
†b. An ‘engine of torture’; esp. the rack. Obs.
c1430Life St. Kath. (1884) 55 Graunt þat þis peynfull engyn be destruyed by þe strook of heuenly thonder & leuen. 1477Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 15 a, [He] was commanded to be put in engyne and tormented. 1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 386 The words..by no engin can be wrested. 1605Shakes. Lear i. iv. 290 Which like an Engine, wrencht my frame of Nature From the fixt place. 1689Shadwell Bury F. i. i, What an engine is this fop.
c. A contrivance for catching game; a snare, net, trap, decoy, or the like. Cf. gin. Still used for appliances used in the illicit catching of salmon, etc.
1481Caxton Myrr. ii. vi. 77 The hunters..by their engyns that they haue propire for the same take hym. 1523Act 14 & 15 Hen. VIII, c. 13 Diuers weres & ingins for fisshynge. 1686N. Cox Gentl. Recr. iii. 141 Partridges are..most easily to be deceived or beguiled with any Train, Bait, Engine, or other Device. Ibid. iii. 145 Make an Engine in the form and fashion of a Horse, cut out of Canvas, and stuff it with Straw, or such light matter. 1861Act 24 & 25 Vict. c. 109 §11 No fixed Engine of any Description shall be placed or used for catching Salmon in any inland or tidal Waters. 1873J. W. W. Bund Law rel. Salmon Fisheries x. 270 The nets were illegal fixed engines. 1923Act 13 & 14 Geo. V c. 16 §11 No fixed engine of any description shall be..used for taking..salmon or migratory trout. 1968Times 23 May 17/5 The appellant was convicted for unlawfully using..a fixed engine—a net which he had left unattended, secured by anchors.
¶d. App. confused with henge, hinge, or with the synonymous hengle. Obs.—0
1552Huloet, Engin of a dore, vertebra. 1580in Baret Alv. E 237.
†6. Taken as the equivalent of L. machina (see machine) in certain specific uses.
a. engine of the world, after L. machina mundi (Lucretius): the ‘universal frame’.
b. The mechanism by which in a Greek theatre gods, etc. were made to appear in the air: cf. L. deus ex machina. Obs.
a.1450–1530Myrr. our Ladye 220 The cloyster of mary beryth hym that gouernyth the thre engynes..heuen, erthe, and helle. 1529More Heresyes i. Wks. 129/1 There was a god, eyther maker or gouernour or both, of al this hole engine of the world. 1539Bp. Hilsey Primer in Myrr. our Ladye 349 The governor of the triple engine, The Son of God of mightes most. 1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. xiv. (1634) 73 In governing of the so swift whirling about of the engine of heaven.
b.1633T. James Voy. 107 As if they had beene brought home in a dreame or engine. 1654Trapp Comm. Ps. lxviii. 20 He appeareth as out of an Engin, and pulleth us out of Death's jaws.
7. a. A machine, more or less complicated, consisting of several parts, working together to produce a given physical effect.
As in recent use the word has come to be applied esp. to the steam-engine (q.v.) and analogous machines (see 8, 9), the wider sense expressed in the above definition has become almost obsolete, surviving chiefly in the compounds beer-engine, calculating-engine, fire-engine, garden-engine, water-engine (q.v. under their initial elements).
1635N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. i. 12 An artificiall Clock, Mill, or such like great Engine. 1651Hobbes Govt. & Soc. Author's Pref., As in a watch, or some such small engine. 1667in Phil. Trans. II. 425 A Glass-Receiver of the above mentioned Engine [an air-pump]. 1708J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 28 If the Pit be sunk more than thirty Fathom, then we use the Horse Engin. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull (1755) 15 I'll rather wheel about the street an engine to grind knives and scissars. c1730E. Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1818) I. 106 An engine to chop straw withal. 1776Adam Smith W.N. (1869) II. iv. viii. 243 The exportation of frames or engines for knitting gloves or stockings is prohibited. 1816Wordsw. Thanksg. Ode (1850) ii. 215 The tubed engine feels the inspiring blast.
b. transf. and fig.
1633Costlie Whore ii. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, I feele within my breast a searching fire Which doth ascend the engine of my braine. 1667Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. 4 Those curious and elaborate Engines, the bodies of living Creatures. 1697–8Watts Reliq. Juv. (1789) 180 Our Sovereign Creator formed our souls, and sent them to inhabit these two engines of flesh. 1842Tennyson Two Voices 347 No life is found..only to one engine bound.
c. spec. (a) Short for beer-engine, fire-engine, garden-engine, etc. † (b) = engine-loom: see 11. † (c) See quot. 1696.
In 18th c. and still later the word engine, when used spec. without defining word or contextual indication, usually meant ‘fire-engine’.
1645E. Pagitt Heresiogr. (1647) B iij b, Your Engines to cast water upon the houses. 1670Trigg in Bedloe Popish Plot (1679) 23 This Fire was most mischievously designed, as being in a place where no Engine could come. 1696Phil. Trans. XIX. 345 Some [Mills] go with Sails, and serve also to Dreyn the Fens, and are called Engines. 1725Lond. Gaz. No. 6364/3 By Trade a Silk-Weaver on the Engine. 1779Johnson in Boswell III. 234 The engines will soon extinguish the fire. 1796C. Marshall Garden. iv. (1813) 54 An engine to water the leaves of vines and all other wall trees. 1798Capt. Miller in Nicolas Disp. Nelson (1846) VII. Introd. 156 A boat that was taking in a hawser..I filled with fire-buckets..and was putting the engine in another. 1844W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scotl. viii. (1855) 87 ‘Him wot was drawin' at the engine, as you passed the bar.’
8. = steam-engine. (This was for long the prevailing sense, and often influenced the later use of the word in other senses.) Often with defining word, as locomotive-engine, marine engine, pumping engine, railway engine.
1816Encycl. Perthensis XXI. 384 In consequence of the great superiority of Mr. Watt's engines..they have become of most extensive use. 1838F. W. Simms Public Wks. Gt. Brit. 69 The adhesion of the wheels of an engine upon the rails was sufficient to effect its progression. 1852Clough Songs in Absence i. 2 His iron might the potent engine plies. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Manners Wks. (Bohn) II. 46 Little is left for the men but to mind the engines, and feed the furnaces. 1869Eng. Mech. 26 Mar. 5/2 The goods engines were moderate in weight. 1878F. Williams Midl. Railw. 654 A good engine-man takes a pride now in his engine.
9. Applied to various other machines analogous to the steam-engine; i.e. to machines including in themselves the means of generating power. Now esp., an internal-combustion engine, such as the motor of a road vehicle.
10. fig. (Chiefly after sense 4.)
†a. Of a person: An agent, instrument, tool. Obs.
1568Grafton Chron. II. 610 He was..the very organ, engine, and deviser of the destruction of Humfrey the good Duke of Gloucester. 1672Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 92 That Politick Engine who..was employed..as a Missionary amongst the Nonconformists. 1713Steele Englishm. No. 54. 344 Sir Francis Walsingham..was one of the great Engines of State. 1767Blackstone Comm. II. 69 Empson and Dudley, the wicked engines of Henry VII.
b. Of a thing: An instrument, means, organ.
1590Greene Fr. Bacon (1630) 56 Now farewell world, the engin of all woe. 1650Major-Gen. Harrison in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 297 III. 354, I thinke Faith and Praier must bee the cheife engines. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 68 The Animal Spirits..are the chief Engine of Sight. 1762J. Brown Poetry & Mus. vii. (1763) 147 The Exhibition of Plays and Shews was one of the very Engines of Corruption. 1789Bentham Princ. Legisl. xviii. §18 The State has two great engines, punishment and reward. 1855Prescott Philip II, I. ii. ix. 244 Never..had the press been turned into an engine of such political importance. 1871Blackie Four Phases i. 73 Logical analysis, the characteristic engine of Socrates.
11. attrib. and Comb.:
a. attrib. (chiefly in sense 8), as engine-box, engine-funnel, engine-furnace, engine-hose, engine-house, engine-pump, engine-room, engine-shaft, engine-wheel, engine-work;
b. objective with vbl. n. or agent-noun, as engine- † artificer, engine-construction, engine-driver, engine-maker, engine-tender, engine-tenter, engine-wright; engine-less, engine-like adjs.; also engine-bearer (see quot.); engine-bell, (a) a device for internal communication on a ship; (b) a bell rung as a warning on a railway train; engine-lathe, a lathe worked by machinery; † engine-loom, one in which the shuttle was driven by a mechanical contrivance, instead of being thrown by hand; engine-pit, (a) a pit for an engine; (b) a trough in the ground or floor constructed to allow a mechanic to work on the underside of a machine (esp. a vehicle); (c) (see quot. 1940); engine-sized (paper), sized by a machine, not by hand in separate sheets; hence engine-sizing, the process of coating paper fibres in a beating machine with size or resin-mixture; the size itself; engine-turned, ornamented with engine-turning; also fig.; engine-turner, one who performs engine-turning; engine-turning, the engraving of symmetrical patterns upon metals by machinery.
1647Haward Crown Rev. 21 *Engine Artificer: Fee per diem 4d.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Engine-bearers, sleepers, or pieces of timber placed between the keelson, in a steamer, and the boilers of the steam-engine, to form a proper seat for the boilers and machinery.
1845Knickerbocker XXV. 59 The short, sharp ring of our *engine-bell was heard. 1846–7Thoreau Walden (1957) 145 When the engine bell rings.
1880Contemp. Rev. Feb. 250 As if tired pedestrians should mount the *engine-box of headlong trains.
1887Athenæum 8 Oct. 463/3 The gradual improvement in *engine construction.
1828F. A. Kemble Let. Nov. in Rec. Later Life (1882) I. 180 *Engine drivers, and persons connected with the railroads and coaches. 1878Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. 66 Enginedrivers and guards in America sometimes strike when a train is halfway on its journey.
1849F. B. Head Stokers & Pokers iii. (1851) 43 The reeking *engine-funnel of an up-train is seen darting out of the tunnel.
1838Knickerbocker XII. 373 A small *engine-hose..coiled up like a huge snake on the deck.
1825Hone Every-Day Bk. I. 1217 An *engine-house, belonging to the Hope Fire Assurance Company. 1840F. Whishaw Railways of Gt. Brit. & Irel. 4 The carriage-house and engine-house.
1832G. Porter Porcelain & Gl. 49 A milled edge is given to earthenware in what is called an *engine lathe.
1885Pall Mall G. 13 May 11/2 By me swept the trim, *engineless, and almost silent railway carriage, driven by an invisible electro motor.
1674Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 136 A sort of mechanical or *engine-like twitchings.
1676Shadwell Virtuoso v. i, He that invented the *Engine-Loom.
1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Enginero, an *engine maker, machinarius. 1839R. S. Robinson Naut. Steam Eng. 150 The power of an engine..is estimated differently by different engine makers.
1839Ure Dict. Arts II. 970 In every winning of coal, the shape of the *engine-pit deserves much consideration. 1853J. A. Beil Technol. Wörterbuch 365/2 The engine pit (the pit in which the engine works), der Maschinenschaft, puits pour la machine. [1883Encycl. Brit. XX. 237/2 Between the rails of each radiating line a pit is constructed to afford access below the engines for inspection.] 1886Proc. Inst. Civil Engineers LXXXVII. 392 The engine-pits are 2 feet 7 inches deep, 3 feet 10 inches wide, and extend the full length of the roads. 1904Goodchild & Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 201/1 Engine pit, a depression or pit into which a man can get to examine the lower parts of a locomotive, motor car, etc. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 298/2 Engine pit..an engine sump or crank pit; the box-like lower part of the crank-case.
1838Dickens O. Twist xlviii, The clanking of the *engine-pumps.
1839R. S. Robinson Naut. Steam Eng. Introd. 8 We go into *engine rooms.
1807Carne Realistian Tin Mine in Phil. Trans. XCVII. 293 The *engine shaft..is situated 8 fathoms north of the widest part of the lode.
1880J. Dunbar Pract. Papermaker 29 *Engine-sized papers.
1911Encycl. Brit. XX. 732/1 Some form of animal or vegetable size or glue ..mixed with the pulp in the beating engine... Known as ‘*engine-sizing’..filling up the interstices of the fibres with a chemical precipitate. 1954J. Southward Mod. Printing (ed. 7) II. xlii. 443 Engine sizing—a soap consisting of resin and alum, colouring matter, [etc.].
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 671 Valves, placed out of the reach of the operative engineer, or *engine tender.
1870Daily News 22 Apr., Intimation was given to the *engine-tenter that they wished to be lowered down.
1765J. Wedgwood Let. 6 July (1965) 35, I intend sending two setts of Vases, Creamcolour, *engine-turned. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xiii, A gold hunting-watch..engine-turned. 1858O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf. T., Self-made Men, Your self-made man..deserves more credit..than the..engine-turned article. 1879Print. Trades Jrnl. xxviii. 12 Pencil-cases elaborately engine-turned.
1769J. Wedgwood Let. 19 Nov. 84 We have not one *Engine Turner left Here now. 1909Westm. Gaz. 7 Jan. 5/2 The engine-turner who used the wonderful ‘rose engine’ to engrave the background.
1764J. Wedgwood Let. 28 May (1965) 27, I..have sent you a semple of one hobby horse (*Engine turning). 1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 102 Engine turning..the wavy circular curves cut into the outside of watch cases for decoration.
1873St. Paul's Mag. Mar. 266 The *engine-wheels could not bite.
1609Holland Amm. Marcel. 127 (R.) They would not lend their helping hand to any man in *engine-worke.
1862Smiles Engineers III. 55 George Stephenson was, in 1812, appointed *engine-wright of the colliery.
▸ Computing. A piece of hardware or software with a specific computational function; a program module which performs a particular kind of operation. Usu. with distinguishing word.
This sense may have been influenced by Charles Babbage's use of engine to mean a calculating machine (Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) (1826)116250; also difference engine and analytical engine (both Ibid. (1847) 1375).search engine: see search n. Compounds 1.
1984Amer. Libraries June 440/2 Notice the trend toward associative hardware search engines, e.g., gescan 2, a General Electric computer built specifically for searching rather than for general purposes. 1989PC Mag. May 58/1 An inference engine is a computer program which takes a knowledge base and interprets the rules therein. 1995Edge Nov. 60/2 SSI's Death Keep utilises an updated polygon engine which generates a markedly more impressive 3D game world. 2001Personal Computer World Sept. 264 (advt.) The AMD Athlon processor is among the world's most powerful engines for PC computing. 2005Future Mus. Winter 14/3 With a built-in time-stretching and pitch-shifting engine..Traks might just be what you're looking for to spruce up your beats.
▪ II. engine, v.|ˈɛndʒɪn|
[orig. a. OF. engin-ier, engyner, corresp. to Pr. engenhar, OSp. engeñar, Pg. engenhar, It. ingegnare:—med.L. ingeniāre, f. ingenium: see prec.; in later use f. engine n.]
†1. trans. To contrive, plan, either in a material or an immaterial sense. Also absol. with inf. of purpose. to engine together: to frame or fit together by art. Obs.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 250 For gygas þe geaunt · with a gynne engyned To breke & to bete doune · þat ben aȝeines ihesus. 1393Gower Conf. I. 79 With fair beheste and yeftes grete Of gold, that they hem have engined Togider. 1413Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle ii. li. (1859) 54 The synne that thou hast done was..not by very malyce engyned of withynne. c1570Thynne Pride & Lowl. (1841) 10 With golden lace ful craftely engined. 1609Bp. Barlow Answ. Nameless Catholic 198 The most horrible designe..that euer was engined. 1611Florio, Aggegnare, to frame..to engine together.
†2. To take by craft; to ensnare, deceive. Obs.
c1325Body & Soul in Map's Poems 249 (M.) Ho may more trayson do, or is loverd betere engine Than he that al is trist is to. 1340Ayenb. 122 Alle þo..þet habbeþ..þe herten engined ine þe dyevles nette. 1393Gower Conf. I. 71 A softe bedde..Where she was afterward engined. c1400Beryn 1501 His tung he gan to whet Sotilly to engyne hym.
3.
†a. To put on the rack; to torture.
†b. To assault with engines.
c. nonce-use. To find engines or instruments for.
c1386Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 240 The mynistres of that toun..the hostiller sore engyned. 1613T. Adams Pract. Wks. (1861) I. 29 (D.) We fear not..professed enemies to engine and batter our walls. 1820Keats Hyperion ii. 161 Tell me..How we can war, how engine our great wrath!
4. To fit up (a vessel) with steam engines.
1868Express 20 May, The Victoria, iron-clad frigate..engined by Messrs. John Penn and Son. 1872Daily News 5 Sept., Build the largest ironclad ships, engine them. 1882W. Hedley 36 On December 3rd [1881] the first vessel built, engined, and masted above Newcastle, passed down the river. |