ENGAGEMENT • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Engagement

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/ɛngˈeɪdʒmənt/ Listen

noun

Engagement n.

The act of engaging, pledging, enlisting, occupying, or entering into contest.

The state of being engaged, pledged or occupied; specif., a pledge to take some one as husband or wife.

That which engages; engrossing occupation; employment of the attention; obligation by pledge, promise, or contract; an enterprise embarked in; as, his engagements prevented his acceptance of any office. "Religion, which is the chief engagement of our league."

(Mil.) An action; a fight; a battle. "In hot engagement with the Moors."

(Mach.) The state of being in gear; as, one part of a clutch is brought into engagement with the other part.

Synonyms: Vocation; business; employment; occupation; promise; stipulation; betrothal; word; battle; combat; fight; contest; conflict. See Battle.

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Etymology of 'Engagement'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Engagement" Quotes from Famous Books

... of poetical and imaginative faculties precluded any capacity for business, or whether it was owing to the apparent superior maturity of Mrs. Harcourt and the stranger, it was certain that THEY arranged the practical details of the engagement, and that the youthful husband sat silent, merely offering his always hopeful and ...

— A First Family of Tasajara • Bret Harte

... that interest. A single false step might imperil his enterprise. His plan was of double importance since the break between her impulsive father and the President of the Confederacy. Barton was now the spokesman for the Opposition. His tongue was one that knew no restraint. An engagement with his daughter might mean the possession of invaluable secrets of the Richmond Government. Barton's championship of the quarrelsome commanders, who, in the first flood tide of their popularity as the heroes of Manassas, gave them the position ...

— The Victim - A romance of the Real Jefferson Davis • Thomas Dixon

... which the Megarians had sent to watch the proceedings, manned it with Athenians and sailed straight toward the city of Salamis, to which the Athenians who had landed also directed their march. The Megarians marched out from the city to repel the latter, and during the heat of the engagement Solon, with his Megarian ship and Athenian crew, sailed directly to the city. The Megarians, interpreting this as the return of their own crew, permitted the ship to approach without resistance, and the city was thus taken by surprise. ...

— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 1 • Various

... Associates was bound by its charter to send to Canada four thousand colonists before the year 1643. [ See "Pioneers of France," 399. ] It had neither the means nor the will to fulfil this engagement. Some of its members were willing to make personal sacrifices for promoting the missions, and building up a colony purely Catholic. Others thought only of the profits of trade; and the practical affairs of the company had passed entirely into the hands of this portion ...

— The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century • Francis Parkman

... can upon it; as we are particularly anxious to know the substance of the answer, which you suppose to have been given to it by Spain. You need never be under the least apprehensions in vouching boldly for this country, that it will make no peace which is inconsistent with its engagement to its allies. Perhaps this string skilfully touched may lead nations who have hitherto kept aloof, to form connexions which may bind us ...

— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. IX • Various

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