• n. 引擎，發(fā)動機；機車，火車頭；工具

來自拉丁語ingenium, 來自詞根gen，生育，詞源同gene, generate.原指內生的天賦，技術，后用來指機械裝置。

engine

engine: [13] The underlying etymological meaning of engine is ‘natural talent’. It comes ultimately from Latin ingenium (source also of English ingenious) which was formed from the base *gen- (as in genetic) denoting ‘reproduction’ and meant literally ‘skill or aptitude one was born with’. Abstract meanings related to this (such as ‘ingenuity’ and ‘genius’) have now died out in English (which acquired the word via Old French engin), but what remains is a more specific strand of meaning in the Latin word – ‘clever device, contrivance’.

Originally this was an abstract concept (often used in a bad sense ‘trick, cunning ruse’), but as early as about 1300 there is evidence of a more concrete application in English to a ‘mechanical device’. The word’s modern use for ‘machine producing motion’ originates in its early 19thcentury application to the steam engine. Engineer [14] comes via Old French engigneor from medieval Latin ingeniātōr, a derivative of the verb ingeniāre ‘contrive’, which in turn came from ingenium.
=> gin, ingenious

engine (n.)

c. 1300, "mechanical device," especially one used in war; "manner of construction," also "skill, craft, innate ability; deceitfulness, trickery," from Old French engin "skill, wit, cleverness," also "trick, deceit, stratagem; war machine" (12c.), from Latin ingenium "inborn qualities, talent" (see ingenious), in Late Latin "a war engine, battering ram" (Tertullian, Isidore of Seville). Sense of "device that converts energy to mechanical power" is 18c.; in 19c. especially of steam engines.

1. Water in the engine compartment is sucked away by a hose.

發(fā)動機艙里的水由一條軟管抽走。

來自柯林斯例句

2. In 1941, the train would have been pulled by a steam engine.

1941年，火車本可以由蒸汽機車拉動。

來自柯林斯例句

3. Two of them got out to fiddle around with the engine.

其中兩人下車鼓搗引擎。

來自柯林斯例句

4. Arnold stopped the engine and got out of the car.

阿諾德關掉發(fā)動機，下了車。

來自柯林斯例句

5. The GM diesel engine shunted the coaches to Platform 4.

通用柴油動力火車頭將車廂轉軌到了4號月臺。

來自柯林斯例句