ENGAGE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Engage

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/ɛngˈeɪdʒ/ Listen

verb

Engage v. t. (past & past part. engaged; pres. part. engaging)

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."

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."

4.

To employ the attention and efforts of; to occupy; to engross; to draw on. "Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage." "Taking upon himself the difficult task of engaging him in conversation."

5.

To enter into contest with; to encounter; to bring to conflict. "A favorable opportunity of engaging the enemy."

6.

(Mach.) 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 v. i.

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."

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.

(Mach.) To be in gear, as two cogwheels working together.

See images of 'Engage'

Etymology of 'Engage'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Engage" Quotes from Famous Books

... would not go to a place where, as he knew, she had lodged before; for another, he had disapproved of her living there all by herself, and Nina never forgot even his least expression of opinion. When he asked at the restaurant if a young lady had called there on the previous day to engage a room, he was answered that they had no young-lady visitor of any kind in the house; he was ...

— Prince Fortunatus • William Black

... Harold impatiently, for he became anxious to secure him, just in proportion as he evinced disinclination to engage. ...

— Black Ivory • R.M. Ballantyne

... but ten days since its publication, yet without a single advertisement in any paper I have been obliged to engage extra assistance to simply inclose my circulars to parties, who are writing and even telegraphing for agencies and machines, while many have traveled long distances to personally engage agencies. The Superintendent of the ...

— Scientific American, Vol. 17, No. 26 December 28, 1867 • Various

... gesture. The gentleman was as diligent to do justice to his fine parts as the lady to her beauteous form. You might see his imagination on the stretch to find out something uncommon, and what they call bright, to entertain her, while she writhed herself into as many different postures to engage him. When she laughed, her lips were to sever at a greater distance than ordinary, to show her teeth; her fan was to point to something at a distance, that in the reach she may discover the roundness of her arm; then she is utterly mistaken in what she saw, falls ...

— Talkers - With Illustrations • John Bate

... sticking-place, was following her into the drawing-room, evidently for a private interview, when Cousin Amelia, who seemed to have made up her mind to take bodily possession of him, hurried the visitor off to the billiard-room, there to engage in a match which would probably last till luncheon-time. I never saw anything so hopeless as the expression of the victim's countenance whilst suffering himself to be thus led into captivity. He did summon courage to entreat "Miss Coventry to ...

— Kate Coventry - An Autobiography • G. J. Whyte-Melville

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