Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: Old French
Origin: engin 'cleverness, machine', from Latin ingenium 'abilities you are born with'

engine

 noun
     
Related topics: Engineering, Power, Transport, Trains, Railways
en‧gine S1 W2 [countable]
1TE the part of a vehicle that produces power to make it move [↪ motor]
start/switch on an engine
The engine won't start.
stop/turn off/switch off an engine
He switched off the car's engine and waited.
Is the engine running smoothly?
diesel/petrol etc engine
an old steam engine
We were stranded with engine trouble on a deserted highway.
2TTT a vehicle that pulls a railway train
3 [usually singular] formal something powerful that causes great changes in society
engine of change/growth etc
The Marshall Plan was the engine of postwar economic growth.
Rome's deadly war engine
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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