Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, May 18th, 2024
Eve of Pentacost
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Bible Encyclopedias
Engine

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Prev Entry
Enghien
Next Entry
Engineering
Resource Toolbox
Additional Links

(Lat. ingenium), a term which in the time of Chaucer had the meaning of "natural talent" or "ability," corresponding to the Latin from which it is derived (cf. "A man bath sapiences thre, Memorie, engin, and intellect also," Second Nun's Tale, 339); in this sense it is now obsolete. It also denoted a mechanical tool or contrivance, and especially a weapon of war; this use may be compared with that of ingenium in classical Latin to mean a clever idea or device, and in later Latin, as in Tertullian, for a warlike instrument or machine. In the 19th century it came to have, when employed alone, a specific reference to the steam-engine, but it is also used of other prime movers such as the air-engine, gas-engine and oil-engine (qq.v.).

Bibliography Information
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Engine'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​bri/​e/engine.html. 1910.
 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile