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Webster 1913 Edition

Engage

En-gage′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Engaged
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Engaging
.]
[F.
engager
; pref.
en-
(L.
in
) +
gage
pledge, pawn. See
Gage
.]
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.”
Shak.
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.
Addison.
4.
To employ the attention and efforts of; to occupy; to engross; to draw on.
Thus shall mankind his guardian care
engage
.
Pope.
Taking upon himself the difficult task of
engaging
him in conversation.
Hawthorne.
5.
To enter into contest with; to encounter; to bring to conflict.
A favorable opportunity of
engaging
the enemy.
Ludlow.
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
.

En-gage′

,
Verb.
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.
Fuller.
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.

Webster 1828 Edition

Engage

ENGA'GE

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To make liable for a debt to a creditor; to bind one's self as surety.
2.
To pawn; to stake as a pledge.
3.
To enlist; to bring into a party; as, to engage men for service; to engage friends to aid in a cause.
4.
To embark in an affair; as, be not hasty to engage yourself in party disputes.
5.
To gain; to win and attach; to draw to.
Good nature engages every one to its possessor.
To very duty he could minds engage.
6.
To unite and bind by contract or promise. Nations engage themselves to each other by treaty. The young often engage themselves to their sorrow.
7.
To attract and fix; as, to engage the attention.
8.
To occupy; to employ assiduously. We were engaged in conversation. The nation is engaged in war.
9.
To attack in contest; to encounter. The army engaged the enemy at ten o'clock. The captain engaged the ship, at point blank distance.

ENGA'GE

,
Verb.
I.
To encounter; to begin to fight; to attack in conflict. The armies engaged at Marengo, in a general battle.
1.
To embark in any business; to take a concern in; to undertake. Be cautious not to engage in controversy, without indispensable necessity.
2.
To promise or pledge one's word; to bind one's self; as, a friend has engaged to supply the necessary funds.

Definition 2024

engage

engage

See also: engagé

English

Alternative forms

Verb

engage ‎(third-person singular simple present engages, present participle engaging, simple past and past participle engaged)

  1. (heading, transitive) To interact socially.
    1. To engross or hold the attention of; to keep busy or occupied.
      • Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
        Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage.
    2. To draw into conversation.
    3. To attract, to please; (archaic) to fascinate or win over (someone).
  2. (heading) To interact antagonistically.
    1. (transitive) To enter into conflict with (an enemy).
    2. (intransitive) To enter into battle.
  3. (heading) To interact contractually.
    1. (transitive) To arrange to employ or use (a worker, a space, etc.).
      • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Affair at the Novelty Theatre:
        For this scene, a large number of supers are engaged, and in order to further swell the crowd, practically all the available stage hands have to ‘walk on’ dressed in various coloured dominoes, and all wearing masks.
    2. (intransitive) To guarantee or promise (to do something).
    3. (transitive) To bind through legal or moral obligation (to do something, especially to marry) (usually in passive).
      They were engaged last month! They're planning to have the wedding next year.‎
    4. (obsolete, transitive) To pledge, pawn (one's property); to put (something) at risk or on the line; to mortgage (houses, land).
  4. (heading) To interact mechanically.
    1. To mesh or interlock (of machinery, especially a clutch).
      Whenever I engage the clutch, the car stalls out.‎
    2. (engineering, transitive) To come into gear with.
      The teeth of one cogwheel engage those of another.
  5. (intransitive) To enter into (an activity), to participate (construed with in).
    • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:
      “[…] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic? […]”

Antonyms

Translations

Derived terms

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɑ̃ɡaʒ/

Verb

engage

  1. first-person singular present indicative of engager
  2. third-person singular present indicative of engager
  3. first-person singular present subjunctive of engager
  4. first-person singular present subjunctive of engager
  5. second-person singular imperative of engager

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle French engagier, from Old French engager ‎(“to pledge, engage”), from Old Frankish *anwadjōn ‎(“to pledge”), from Proto-Germanic *an-, *andi- + Proto-Germanic *wadjōną ‎(“to pledge, secure”), from Proto-Germanic *wadjō ‎(“pledge, guarantee”), from Proto-Indo-European *wedʰ- ‎(“to pledge, redeem a pledge; guarantee, bail”), equivalent to en- +‎ gage. Cognate with Old English anwedd ‎(“pledge, security”), Old English weddian ‎(“to engage, covenant, undertake”), German wetten ‎(“to bet, wager”), Icelandic veðja ‎(“to wager”). More at wed.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɪnˈɡeɪdʒ/, /ɛnˈɡeɪdʒ/
  • Rhymes: -eɪdʒ

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