engage

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   get caught

   make sure the gear is engaged

2. 2
   verb

   keep engaged

   engaged the gears

3. 3
   verb

   hire for work or assistance

   engage aid, help, services, or support

4. 4
   verb

   To interact socially.

   Thus ſhall mankind his guardian care engage, / The promis'd father of the future age.

5. 5
   verb

   To interact antagonistically.

   1698-1699, Edmund Ludlow, Memoirs a favourable opportunity of engaging the enemy

6. 6
   verb

   To interact contractually.

   For this scene, a large number of supers are engaged, and in order to further swell the crowd, practically all the available stage hands have to ‘walk on’ dressed in various coloured dominoes, and all wearing masks.

7. 7
   verb

   To interact mechanically.

   Whenever I engage the clutch, the car stalls out.

8. 8
   verb

   consume all of one's attention or time

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.