engineer

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

English

Etymology

The noun is derived from:

• Middle English enginour (“one who designs, constructs, or operates military works for attack or defence, etc.; machine designer”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman enginour, engigneour [and other forms], and Middle French and Old French engigneor, engigneour, engignier (“one who designs, constructs, or operates military works for attack or defence; architect; carpenter; craftsman; designer; planner; one who deceives or schemes”) (modern French ingénieur), from engin (“contraption, device; machine; invention; creativity, ingenuity; intelligence; deception, ruse, trickery”) + -eor, -or (suffix forming agent nouns); engin is derived from Latin ingenium (“innate or natural quality, nature; intelligence, natural capacity; ability, skill, talent; (Medieval Latin) engine; machine”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + gignere (the present active infinitive of gignō (“to bear, beget, give birth to; to cause, produce, yield”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget, give birth to; to produce”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns); and
• from engine +‎ -er (occupational suffix); and
• from engine +‎ -eer (suffix forming nouns denoting people associated with, concerned with, or engaged in specified activities), possibly modelled after Middle French ingénieur (a variant of Middle French, Old French engigneour; see above), and Italian ingegniere (“engineer”) (obsolete; modern Italian ingegnere).

The verb is derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɛn(d)ʒɪˈnɪə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɛnd͡ʒɪˈnɪ(ə)ɹ/
• Hyphenation: en‧gin‧eer
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Noun

engineer (plural engineers)

1. (military, also figuratively)
   1. A soldier engaged in designing or constructing military works for attack or defence, or other engineering works.
   2. (obsolete) A soldier in charge of operating a weapon; an artilleryman, a gunner.
2. (by extension)
   1. A person professionally engaged in the technical design and construction of large-scale private and public works such as bridges, buildings, harbours, railways, roads, etc.; a civil engineer.
   2. Originally, a person engaged in designing, constructing, or maintaining engines or machinery; now (more generally), a person qualified or professionally engaged in any branch of engineering, or studying to do so.
   3. A person trained to operate an engine; an engineman.
      1. (chiefly historical) A person who operates a steam engine; specifically (nautical), a person employed to operate the steam engine in the engine room of a ship.
      2. (US, firefighting) A person who drives or operates a fire engine.
      3. (chiefly US, rail transport) A person who drives or operates a locomotive; a train driver.
   4. Preceded by a qualifying word: a person who uses abilities or knowledge to manipulate events or people.
   5. (often derogatory) A person who formulates plots or schemes; a plotter, a schemer.
3. An honorific title given to engineers before their name.

Usage notes

• Engineer is usually capitalized or abbreviated as Engr when used as a title:

  Engr. Smith

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• → Burmese: အင်ဂျင်နီယာ (anggyangniya)
• → Hawaiian: ʻenekinia
• → Hindi: इंजीनियर (iñjīniyar)
• → Japanese: エンジニア (enjinia)
• → Mon: အိန်ဂျေန်နဳယျာ
• → Persian:
  • Dari: اِنْجِنِیر (injinīr)

Translations

Verb

engineer (third-person singular simple present engineers, present participle engineering, simple past and past participle engineered)

1. (transitive)
   1. To employ one's abilities and knowledge as an engineer to design, construct, and/or maintain (something, such as a machine or a structure), usually for industrial or public use.
   2. (specifically) To use genetic engineering to alter or construct (a DNA sequence), or to alter (an organism).
   3. To plan or achieve (a goal) by contrivance or guile; to finagle, to wangle.
2. (intransitive)
   1. To formulate plots or schemes; to plot, to scheme.

      Synonym: machinate

   2. (rare) To work as an engineer.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• chief engineer on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• engineer on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• engineer (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “engineer”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “engineer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• re-engine, reengine