3 VERB If you engage someone in conversation, you have a conversation with them. □ [V n + in ] They tried to engage him in conversation.
4 VERB If you engage with something or with a group of people, you get involved with that thing or group and feel that you are connected with it or have real contact with it. □ [V + with ] She found it hard to engage with office life. ● en|gage|ment N‑UNCOUNT □ [+ with ] And she, too, suffers from a lack of critical engagement with the literary texts.
5 VERB If you engage someone to do a particular job, you appoint them to do it. [FORMAL ] □ [V n] We engaged the services of a recognised engineer.
6 VERB When a part of a machine or other mechanism engages or when you engage it, it moves into a position where it fits into something else. □ [V ] Press the lever until you hear the catch engage. □ [V n] …a lesson in how to engage the four-wheel drive.
7 VERB When a military force engages the enemy, it attacks them and starts a battle. □ [V n] It could engage the enemy beyond the range of hostile torpedoes.
8 → see also engaged , engaging
en|gaged / I nge I dʒd/
1 ADJ Someone who is engaged in or engaged on a particular activity is doing that thing. [FORMAL ] □ [+ in ] They found the three engaged in target practice. □ [+ on ] …the various projects he was engaged on.
2 ADJ [usu v-link ADJ ] When two people are engaged , they have agreed to marry each other. □ We got engaged on my eighteenth birthday. [Also + to ]
3 ADJ [v-link ADJ ] If a phone or a phone line is engaged , it is already being used by someone else so that you are unable to speak to the person you are phoning. [BRIT ] □ The line is engaged. in AM, use busy 4 ADJ [v-link ADJ ] If a public toilet is engaged , it is already being used by someone else. [BRIT ] in AM, usually use occupied
en|gage|ment / I nge I dʒmənt/ (engagements )
1 N‑COUNT An engagement is an arrangement that you have made to do something at a particular time. [FORMAL ] □ He had an engagement at a restaurant in Greek Street at eight.
2 N‑COUNT [usu sing, usu poss N ] An engagement is an agreement that two people have made with each other to get married. □ [+ to ] I've broken off my engagement to Arthur.
3 N‑COUNT [usu sing, usu poss N ] You can refer to the period of time during which two people are engaged as their engagement .
4 N‑VAR A military engagement is an armed conflict between two enemies. □ The constitution prohibits them from military engagement on foreign soil.
5 → see also engage
en|ga ge|ment ring (engagement rings ) N‑COUNT An engagement ring is a ring worn by a woman when she is engaged to be married.
en|gag|ing / I nge I dʒ I ŋ/ ADJ An engaging person or thing is pleasant, interesting, and entertaining. □ …one of her most engaging and least known novels. □ He was engaging company.
en|gen|der / I ndʒe ndə r / (engenders , engendering , engendered ) VERB If someone or something engenders a particular feeling, atmosphere, or situation, they cause it to occur. [FORMAL ] □ [V n] It helps engender a sense of common humanity.
en|gine ◆◆◇ /e ndʒ I n/ (engines )
1 N‑COUNT The engine of a car or other vehicle is the part that produces the power which makes the vehicle move. □ He got into the driving seat and started the engine. □ …an engine failure that forced a jetliner to crash-land in a field.
2 N‑COUNT An engine is also the large vehicle that pulls a railway train. □ In 1941, the train would have been pulled by a steam engine.
-engined /-endʒ I nd/ COMB -engined combines with other words to show the number or type of engines that something has. □ …the world's biggest twin-engined airliner. □ …a petrol-engined Ford Transit.
en|gi|neer ◆◇◇ /e ndʒ I n I ə r / (engineers , engineering , engineered )
1 N‑COUNT An engineer is a person who uses scientific knowledge to design, construct, and maintain engines and machines or structures such as roads, railways, and bridges.
2 → see also chemical engineer , civil engineer , electrical engineer , sound engineer
3 N‑COUNT An engineer is a person who repairs mechanical or electrical devices. □ They send a service engineer to fix the disk drive.
4 N‑COUNT An engineer is a person who is responsible for maintaining the engine of a ship while it is at sea.
5 VERB [usu passive] When a vehicle, bridge, or building is engineered , it is planned and constructed using scientific methods. □ [be V -ed] Many of Kuwait's spacious freeways were engineered by W S Atkins. □ [V -ed] …the car's better designed and better engineered rivals.
6 VERB If you engineer an event or situation, you arrange for it to happen, in a clever or indirect way. □ [be V -ed] LeBlanc's rise was not entirely a consequence of talent but was engineered by her maternal grandfather.
en|gi|neer|ing ◆◇◇ /e ndʒ I n I ə r I ŋ/
1 N‑UNCOUNT Engineering is the work involved in designing and constructing engines and machinery, or structures such as roads and bridges. Engineering is also the subject studied by people who want to do this work. □ …graduates with degrees in engineering.