Engines

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Mechanisms that transform energy into motion for operation
2. Apparatuses that create propulsion or power for various machines and vehicles
3. Devices that transform chemical or electrical energy into mechanical force for movement

Etymology: "Engines" is the plural of "engine," and the singular has a history that starts far from machinery. Its ancestor, Latin "ingenium," meant innate quality, nature, or talent, and the same root gave English "genius" and "ingenious." Only later did the Latin word come to mean an invention, and in Late Latin it could refer to a war-engine or battering-ram. The word passed into Old French as "engin," which kept the sense of skill or cleverness alongside that of a war machine, and English took it up in Middle English as "engyn." The meaning of cunning and contrivance stayed attached to it, so a device was always, at root, a product of ingenuity. Over time the sense narrowed toward mechanical devices, and the plural "engines" now most often means machines that produce power.

Synonyms: motors, machines, drivers

Antonyms: stoppers