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Engaging   /ɛngˈeɪdʒɪŋ/   Listen
verb
Encage  v. t.  (past & past part. encaged; pres. part. engaging)  To confine in a cage; to coop up.



Engage  v. t.  (past & past part. engaged; pres. part. engaging)  
1.
To put under pledge; to pledge; to place under obligations to do or forbear doing something, as by a pledge, oath, or promise; to bind by contract or promise. "I to thee engaged a prince's word."
2.
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.
3.
To gain over; to win and attach; to attract and hold; to draw. "Good nature engages everybody to him."
4.
To employ the attention and efforts of; to occupy; to engross; to draw on. "Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage." "Taking upon himself the difficult task of engaging him in conversation."
5.
To enter into contest with; to encounter; to bring to conflict. "A favorable opportunity of engaging the enemy."
6.
(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.



Engage  v. i.  
1.
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."
2.
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.
3.
To enter into conflict; to join battle; as, the armies engaged in a general battle.
4.
(Mach.) To be in gear, as two cogwheels working together.



adjective
Engaging  adj.  Tending to draw the attention or affections; attractive; as, engaging manners or address.
Engaging and disengaging gear or Engaging and disengaging machinery, that in which, or by means of which, one part is alternately brought into gear or out of gear with another part, as occasion may require.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Engaging" Quotes from Famous Books



... the line he looked round for more work to do. Seeing then that several of the British vessels had not come within point-blank, but, through professional timidity, or over-cautious reverence for the line of battle, were engaging at long range a single Spaniard, he quitted his own position, brought her also to close quarters, and after an obstinate contest, creditable to both parties, forced her to surrender. She was the only ship to haul down her flag that day, and her captain refused to surrender ...
— Types of Naval Officers - Drawn from the History of the British Navy • A. T. Mahan

... said la Peyrade, "might have some appearance of justice if I were the only barrister in Paris; but as the streets are black with them, and as, only yesterday, Thuillier himself spoke of engaging some more important lawyer than myself, I have not the slightest scruple in refusing to defend him. Now, as to the marriage, in order that it may not be made the object of another brutal and forcible demand upon me, I here renounce it in the most formal manner, and nothing now prevents ...
— The Lesser Bourgeoisie • Honore de Balzac

... whence they are exported to Europe, and chiefly to England. Timber in Canada is called lumber; those engaged in the trade are called lumberers, and the business itself is called lumbering. After a lapse of time it must no doubt become monotonous to those engaged in it, and the name is not engaging; but there is much about it that is very picturesque. A saw-mill worked by water power is almost always a pretty object; and stacks of new-cut timber are pleasant to the smell, and group themselves not amiss on the water's edge. ...
— Volume 1 • Anthony Trollope

... higher from the floor as some skittish note frantically dodges to evade him, his general musical aspect at his own hearth is that of a partially Oriental gentleman, agonizingly laboring to cast from him some furious animal full of strange sounds. Thus engaging in desperate single combat with what, for making a ferocious fight before any recognizable tune can he rescued from it, is, perhaps, the most exhausting instrument known to evening amateurs and maddened neighborhoods, ...
— Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 18, July 30, 1870 • Various

... fame of the lady Dulcinea's beauty undimmed as ever; all I require is that the great Don Quixote retire to his own home for a year, or for so long a time as shall by me be enjoined upon him, as we agreed before engaging in ...
— Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra


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