Word Direct Answers

What does "engage" mean?

Engage: To gain for service; to bring in as associate or aid; to enlist; as, to engage friends to aid in a cause; to engage men for service.

Additional senses

  1. 2.To gain over; to win and attach; to attract and hold; to draw. Good nature engages everybody to him. Addison.
  2. 3.To employ the attention and efforts of; to occupy; to engross; to draw on. Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage. Pope. Taking upon himself the difficult task of engaging him in conversation. Hawthorne.
  3. 4.To enter into contest with; to encounter; to bring to conflict. A favorable opportunity of engaging the enemy. Ludlow.
  4. 5.(Mach.) To come into gear with; as, the teeth of one cogwheel engage those of another, or one part of a clutch engages the other part.
  5. 6.To promise or pledge one's self; to enter into an obligation; to become bound; to warrant. How proper the remedy for the malady, I engage not. Fuller.
  6. 7.To embark in a business; to take a part; to employ or involve one's self; to devote attention and effort; to enlist; as, to engage in controversy.
  7. 8.To enter into conflict; to join battle; as, the armies engaged in a general battle.
  8. 9.(Mach.) To be in gear, as two cogwheels working together.

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