Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - engine

 I. noun  Etymology: Middle English engin, from Anglo-French, from Latin ingenium natural disposition, talent, from in- + gignere to beget — more at kin  Date: 13th century  1. obsolete  a. ingenuity  b. evil contrivance ; wile  2.  a. something used to effect a purpose ; agent, instrument mournful and terrible ~ of horror and of crime — E. A. Poe  b. something that produces a particular and usually desirable result ~s of economic growth  3.  a. a mechanical tool: as  (1) an instrument or machine of war  (2) obsolete a torture implement  b. machinery  c. any of various mechanical appliances — often used in combination fire ~  4. a machine for converting any of various forms of energy into mechanical force and motion; also a mechanism or object that serves as an energy source black holes may be the ~s for quasars  5. a railroad locomotive  6. computer software that performs a fundamental function especially of a larger program  • ~less adjective  II. transitive verb  (~d; engining)  Date: 1868 to equip with ~s