engine
/ˈɛnd͡ʒɪn/ noun B1- A large construction used in warfare, such as a battering ram, catapult etc.
- A complex mechanical device which converts energy into useful motion or physical effects.
- A person or group of people which influence a larger group; a driving force.
- The part of a car or other vehicle which provides the force for motion, now especially one powered by internal combustion.
- A self-powered vehicle used for moving cars along a track.
- A locomotive.
- A software or hardware system responsible for a specific technical task (usually with qualifying word). · a graphics engine· a physics engine
- Anything used to effect a purpose; any device or contrivance; an agent.
Plural engines
From the library
The engines were soon upon the spot, but the dry wood burned with great fury, and it was impossible to arrest the conflagration until the stack had been entirely consumed.
The poor little thing was snorting like a steam-engine when she caught it, and kept doubling itself up and straightening itself out again, so that altogether, for the first minute or two, it was as much as she could do to hold it.
And I wouldn’t have then, only I sent up this cotton waste and oil from the engine-room this afternoon for a girl upstairs who had her hand burned with a smoothing-iron.
I’ve been firing the engine in that laundry for the last two weeks.”
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