Engine /(ĕn"jĭn)/

En·gine

Engine

n.
  1. Natural capacity; ability; skill. [Obs.]
    A man hath sapiences three, Memory, engine, and intellect also.
  2. Anything used to effect a purpose; any device or contrivance; a machine; an agent.
    You see the ways the fisherman doth take To catch the fish; what engines doth he make?
    Their promises, enticements, oaths, tokens, and all these engines of lust.
  3. Any instrument by which any effect is produced; especially, an instrument or machine of war or torture.
  4. A compound machine by which any physical power is applied to produce a given physical effect. (Mach.)

Phrases & Compounds
Engine driver
one who manages an engine; specifically, the engineer of a locomotive.
Engine lathe
See under Lathe.
Engine tool
a machine tool.
Engine turning
a method of ornamentation by means of a rose engine.

Engine

v. t.
  1. To assault with an engine. [Obs.]
    To engine and batter our walls.
    — T. Adams.
  2. To equip with an engine; -- said especially of steam vessels; as, vessels are often built by one firm and engined by another.
  3. (Pronounced, in this sense, .) To rack; to torture. [Obs.]