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engaged

 - 5 dictionary results
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en⋅gaged

  [en-geyjd]
–adjective
1. busy or occupied; involved: deeply engaged in conversation.
2. pledged to be married; betrothed: an engaged couple.
3. under engagement; pledged: an engaged contractor.
4. entered into conflict with: desperately engaged armies.
5. Mechanics.
a. interlocked.
b. (of wheels) in gear with each other.
6. Architecture. (of a distinct member) built so as to be truly or seemingly attached in part to the structure before which it stands: an engaged column.
Use engaged in a Sentence
Origin:
1605–15; engage + -ed 2

Related forms:
en⋅gag⋅ed⋅ly  [en-gey-jid-lee, -geyjd-] , adverb
en⋅gag⋅ed⋅ness, noun
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en⋅gage

  [en-geyj] verb, -gaged, -gag⋅ing.
–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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To engaged
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·gaged   (ěn-gājd')   
adj.  

  1. Employed, occupied, or busy.

  2. Committed, as to a cause.

  3. Pledged to marry; betrothed: an engaged couple.

  4. Involved in conflict or battle.

  5. Being in gear; meshed.

  6. Partly embedded in, built into, or attached to another part, as columns on a wall.

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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