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engage

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en⋅gage

  [en-geyj] verb, -gaged, -gag⋅ing.
Use engage in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons): He engaged her in conversation.
2. to secure for aid, employment, use, etc.; hire: to engage a worker; to engage a room.
3. to attract and hold fast: The novel engaged her attention and interest.
4. to attract or please: His good nature engages everyone.
5. to bind, as by pledge, promise, contract, or oath; make liable: He engaged himself to repay his debt within a month.
6. to betroth (usually used in the passive): They were engaged last week.
7. to bring (troops) into conflict; enter into conflict with: Our army engaged the enemy.
8. Mechanics. to cause (gears or the like) to become interlocked; interlock with.
9. to attach or secure.
10. Obsolete. to entangle or involve.
–verb (used without object)
11. to occupy oneself; become involved: to engage in business or politics.
12. to take employment: She engaged in her mother's business.
13. to pledge one's word; assume an obligation: I was unwilling to engage on such terms.
14. to cross weapons; enter into conflict: The armies engaged early in the morning.
15. Mechanics. (of gears or the like) to interlock.
Origin:
1515–25; < MF engager, OF engagier. See en- 1 , gage 1

Related forms:
en⋅gag⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
1. absorb, engross, interest, involve.

Antonyms:
2. discharge. 8. release.
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en⋅ga⋅gé

  [Fr. ahn-ga-zhey]
–adjective
choosing to involve oneself in or commit oneself to something: Some of the political activists grew less engagé as the years passed.
Origin:
1950–55; < F: lit., engaged
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To engage
en·gage   (ěn-gāj')   
v.   en·gaged, en·gag·ing, en·gag·es

v.   tr.

  1. To obtain or contract for the services of; employ: engage a carpenter.

  2. To arrange for the use of; reserve: engage a room. See Synonyms at book.

  3. To pledge or promise, especially to marry.

  4. To attract and hold the attention of; engross: a hobby that engaged her for hours at a time.

  5. To win over or attract: His smile engages everyone he meets.

  6. To draw into; involve: engage a shy person in conversation.

  7. To require the use of; occupy: Studying engages most of my time.

  8. To enter or bring into conflict with: We have engaged the enemy.

  9. To interlock or cause to interlock; mesh: engage the automobile's clutch.

  10. To give or take as security.

v.   intr.

  1. To involve oneself or become occupied; participate: engage in conversation.

  2. To assume an obligation; agree.

  3. To enter into conflict or battle: The armies engaged at dawn.

  4. To become meshed or interlocked: The gears engaged.


[Middle English engagen, to pledge something as security for repayment of debt, from Old French engagier : en-, in; see en-1 + gage, pledge, of Germanic origin.]
en·gag'er n.
en·ga·gé   (ěn'gä-zhā')   
adj.  Actively committed, as to a political cause.

[French, past participle of engager, to engage, from Old French engagier, to pledge; see engage.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

engage 
1430, from M.Fr. engagier, from O.Fr. en gage "under pledge," from en "make" + gage "pledge," through Frankish from P.Gmc. *wadiare "pledge" (showing the common evolution of Gmc. -w- to Fr. -g-; cf. Guillaume from Wilhelm). Specific sense of "promise to marry" first recorded 1727.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

engage spelling
Do you mean Nokia N-Gage?
(2005-01-18)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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