Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To obtain or contract for the services of; employ.
- intransitive verb To arrange for the use of; reserve: synonym: book.
- intransitive verb To pledge or promise, especially to marry.
- intransitive verb To attract and hold the attention of; engross.
- intransitive verb To win over or attract.
- intransitive verb To draw into; involve.
- intransitive verb To require the use of; occupy.
- intransitive verb To enter or bring into conflict with.
- intransitive verb To interlock or cause to interlock; mesh.
- intransitive verb To give or take as security.
- intransitive verb To involve oneself or become occupied; participate.
- intransitive verb To assume an obligation; agree.
- intransitive verb To enter into conflict or battle.
- intransitive verb To become meshed or interlocked.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In construction, to fasten or let into a wall for support, as to secure a column to a wall. See
engaged column , under column. - To pledge; bind as by pledge, promise, contract, or oath; put under an obligation to do or forbear doing something; specifically, to make liable, as for a debt to a creditor; bind as surety or in betrothal: with a reflexive pronoun or (rarely) a noun or personal pronoun as object: as, nations engage themselves to each other by treaty.
- To pawn; stake; pledge.
- To secure for aid, employment, use, or the like; put under requisition by agreement or bargain; obtain a promise of: as, to
engage one's friends in support of a cause; to engage workmen; to engage a carriage, or a supply of provisions. - To gain; win and attach; draw; attract and fix: as, to
engage the attention. - To occupy; employ the attention or efforts of: as, to
engage one in conversation; to be engaged in war; to engage one's self in party disputes. - To enter into contest with; bring into conflict; encounter in battle: as, the army engaged the enemy at ten o'clock.
- To interlock and become entangled; entangle; involve.
- In mech., to mesh with and interact upon; enter and act or be acted upon; interlock with, as the teeth of geared wheels with each other, or the rack and pinion in a rack-and-pinion movement.
- To pledge one's word; promise; assume an obligation; become bound; undertake: as, a friend has engaged to supply the necessary funds.
- To occupy one's self; be busied; take part: as, to
engage in conversation; he is zealously engaged in the cause. - To have an encounter; begin to fight; enter into conflict.
- In fencing, to cross weapons with an adversary, pressing against his with sufficient force to prevent any manœuver from taking one unawares. Farrow, Mil. Encyc.
- In machinery, to mesh and interact.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To promise or pledge one's self; to enter into an obligation; to become bound; to warrant.
- intransitive verb To embark in a business; to take a part; to employ or involve one's self; to devote attention and effort; to enlist.
- intransitive verb To enter into conflict; to join battle.
- intransitive verb (Mach.) To be in gear, as two cogwheels working together.
- transitive verb 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.
- transitive verb To gain for service; to bring in as associate or aid; to enlist
- transitive verb To gain over; to win and attach; to attract and hold; to draw.
- transitive verb To employ the attention and efforts of; to occupy; to engross; to draw on.
- transitive verb To enter into contest with; to encounter; to bring to conflict.
- transitive verb (Mach.) To come into gear with.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
engross orhold theattention of (someone); to keep busy or occupied. - verb transitive To draw into
conversation . - verb transitive To
attract , toplease ; (archaic ) tofascinate orwin over (someone). - verb transitive To
enter intoconflict with (anenemy ). - verb intransitive To enter into
battle . - verb transitive To
arrange toemploy oruse (a worker, a space, etc). - verb To
mesh orinterlock (of machinery, especially aclutch ). - verb intransitive To enter into (an activity), to
participate (construed within ). - verb intransitive To
guarantee orpromise (to do something). - verb transitive To
bind through legal or moral obligation (to do something, especially tomarry ) (usually in passive). - verb obsolete, transitive To
pledge ,pawn (one's property); to put (something) at risk or on the line; tomortgage (houses, land).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb keep engaged
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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He got half of the word engage out, and then the call came up from sickbay.
VENDETTA: THE GIANT NOVEL PETER DAVID 1991
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He got half of the word engage out, and then the call came up from sickbay.
VENDETTA: THE GIANT NOVEL PETER DAVID 1991
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He got half of the word engage out, and then the call came up from sickbay.
VENDETTA: THE GIANT NOVEL PETER DAVID 1991
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"Opportunities to create partnerships and to engage is not a year and a half from now, or two years from now, where perhaps you will see a continued reduction in attacks or violence," said Francisco Sanchez, the U.S. undersecretary of commerce for international trade.
U.S. companies should make inroads in Iraq now, trade official says Leila Fadel 2010
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"Opportunities to create partnerships and to engage is not a year and a half from now, or two years from now, where perhaps you will see a continued reduction in attacks or violence," said Francisco Sanchez, the U.S. undersecretary of commerce for international trade.
U.S. companies should make inroads in Iraq now, trade official says Leila Fadel 2010
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He goes on to mount the argument -- an optimistic one, in my view -- that perhaps the reluctance to engage is "a sign of a robust, questioning, and skeptical press."
Jack Shafer: Politicians' Media Dodge May Be A Good Thing The Huffington Post News Team 2010
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He goes on to mount the argument -- an optimistic one, in my view -- that perhaps the reluctance to engage is "a sign of a robust, questioning, and skeptical press."
Jack Shafer: Politicians' Media Dodge May Be A Good Thing The Huffington Post News Team 2010
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She then discussed how the classroom environment, and the teacher knowing how best to get kids to engage, is critical to a good classroom.
David Thielen: An Interview With Beverly Ingle of the Colorado Education Association David Thielen 2010
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He goes on to mount the argument -- an optimistic one, in my view -- that perhaps the reluctance to engage is "a sign of a robust, questioning, and skeptical press."
Jack Shafer: Politicians' Media Dodge May Be A Good Thing The Huffington Post News Team 2010
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"Opportunities to create partnerships and to engage is not a year and a half from now, or two years from now, where perhaps you will see a continued reduction in attacks or violence," said Francisco Sanchez, the U.S. undersecretary of commerce for international trade.
U.S. companies should make inroads in Iraq now, trade official says Leila Fadel 2010
oroboros commented on the word engage
eNgAGe, and EnGaGe (on)
May 30, 2008
dailyword commented on the word engage
Captain Picard used this word a lot when he wanted the ship to go to their next assignment.
June 19, 2012