Engage

How to spell engage

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce engage

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does engage mean?

1. verbTo attract and hold someone's attention or active involvement.
2. verbTo employ or hire someone to perform a service.
3. verbTo cause parts to interlock so that they move together, as with gears or a clutch.

Engage in a sentence

• A good teacher knows how to engage a restless class.

• The couple decided to engage a solicitor before signing the contract.

• Press the clutch fully before you engage first gear.

• The museum redesigned its exhibits to engage younger visitors.

• The firm will engage extra staff to handle the busy season.

• The safety lock will not engage unless the door is fully shut.

Where does engage come from?

Language of origin: French

This word arrived in English from the Old French engager, which meant 'to bind by a pledge', built from the prefix en- 'to put into' and gage, a word for a pledge, pawn, or security deposit. That gage came in turn from a Frankish Germanic root meaning a token left as a guarantee, the same idea preserved in the related word 'wage' and in 'mortgage', where the gage element still means a pledge. When the term entered English in the late 1500s, its first meanings were about binding oneself: pledging a promise, taking on a commitment, or pawning property. From the idea of being bound or committed the sense broadened to occupying someone's attention, hiring or employing a person, and joining battle with an enemy. The promise-and-pledge ancestry survives most clearly today in 'engaged' meaning betrothed, where two people are formally bound to marry.

How the word is built

• en- (to put in, cause to)
• gage (a pledge or pawn, from Old French)