ENGINE

Definitions

1. 1. Anything used to effect a purpose; any device or contrivance; an agent. Shak. You see the ways the fisherman doth take To catch the fish; what engines doth he make Bunyan. Their promises, enticements, oaths, tokens, and all these engines of lust. Shak.
2. 2. Any instrument by which any effect is produced; especially, an instrument or machine of war or torture. "Terrible engines of death." Sir W. Raleigh.
3. 3. A compound machine by which any physical power is applied to produce a given physical effect. Engine driver, one who manages an engine; specifically, the engineer of a locomotive. -- Engine lathe. (Mach.) See under Lathe. -- Engine tool, a machine tool. J. Whitworth. -- Engine turning (Fine Arts), a method of ornamentation by means of a rose engine.