engage

English Online Dictionary. What means engage‎? What does engage mean?

English

Alternative forms

• ingage (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English engagen, from Old French engagier (“to pledge, engage”), from Frankish *anwadjōn (“to pledge”), from Proto-Germanic *an-, *andi- + Proto-Germanic *wadjōną (“to pledge, secure”), from Proto-Germanic *wadją (“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): /ɪnˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/, /ɛnˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -eɪdʒ

Verb

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

1. To interact socially.
   1. (transitive) To engross or hold the attention of; to keep busy or occupied.
   2. (transitive, intransitive) To draw into conversation.
   3. To attract, to please; (archaic) to fascinate or win over (someone).
2. To interact antagonistically.
   1. (transitive) To enter into conflict with (an enemy).
      • 1698-1699, Edmund Ludlow, Memoirs

        a favourable opportunity of engaging the enemy
   2. (intransitive) To enter into battle.
3. To interact contractually.
   1. (transitive) To arrange to employ or use (a worker, a space, etc.).
   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).
   4. (obsolete, transitive) To pledge, pawn (one's property); to put (something) at risk or on the line; to mortgage (houses, land).
4. To interact mechanically.
   1. To mesh or interlock (of machinery, especially a clutch).
   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).
6. (transitive, obsolete) To entangle.

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “to cause to mesh or interlock”): disengage

Derived terms

Translations

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.ɡaʒ/

Verb

engage

1. inflection of engager:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams

• gagnée