engage

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See also engagé

[edit] English

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Engage

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[edit] Etymology

From Old (and modern) French engager (from the same base as English wage) from en- + Old French gage (“pledge”), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *waddi, wadja (cognate with Old English wedd), from Proto-Germanic *wadjō, *wadi- (“pledge”), from Proto-Indo-European *wadh- (“to pledge, redeem a pledge”). Akin to Old Norse veþja "to pledge", Gothic wadi. More at wed.

[edit] Pronunciation

IPA: /ɪnˈɡeɪʤ/
Audio (US)

(file)
Rhymes: -eɪdʒ

[edit] Verb

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

(transitive) To engross or hold the attention of (someone); to keep busy or occupied.
(transitive) To draw into conversation.
(transitive) To attract, to please; (archaic) to fascinate or win over (someone).
(transitive) To enter into conflict with (an enemy).
(intransitive) To enter into battle.
(transitive) To arrange to employ or use (a worker, a space, etc).
To mesh or interlock (of machinery, especially a clutch).

Whenever I engage the clutch, the car stalls out.
(intransitive) To enter into (an activity), to participate (construed with in).
(intransitive) To guarantee or promise (to do something).
(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.
(obsolete, transitive) To pledge, pawn (one's property); to put (something) at risk or on the line; to mortgage (houses, land).
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vii:
  
  Thou that doest liue in later times, must wage / Thy workes for wealth, and life for gold engage.