I. |enjə̇|ni(ə)r, -iə noun
( -s )
Etymology: alteration (influenced by -err ) of earlier enginer, from Middle English, alteration (influenced by Middle English -er, -ere -er) of enginour, from Middle French engigneur, from Old French engigneor, from Old French engignier to contrive + -eor -or
1.
a. obsolete : a builder of military engines
b. obsolete : a designer or builder of military works (as fortifications)
c.
(1) obsolete : artilleryman
(2) : a member of a military group devoted to engineering work (as in building bridges or roads, removing land mines, or preparing airfields)
2. obsolete
a. : a person who designs, invents, or contrives
b. : a crafty schemer : plotter
3.
a. : a designer or builder of engines, especially steam engines or heavy machinery
b. : a person who is trained in or follows as a calling or profession a branch of engineering (as civil, military, electrical, mining, structural, or sanitary engineering) — in some jurisdictions legally restricted in technical use to a person who has completed a prescribed course of study and complied with requirements concerning registration or licensing
c. : a person who carries through an enterprise or brings about a result especially by skillful or artful contrivance
a political engineer of some note
the engineer of the compromise that settled the dispute
a skilled engineer of the economy of the nation — Frank Paddock
d. : a person who is trained or skilled in the technicalities of some field (as sociology or insurance) not usually considered to fall within the scope of engineering and who is engaged in using such training or skill in the solution of technical problems
e. : a person with or without technical training who affects technical knowledge to further his endeavors (as in selling)
4. : a person who runs or supervises engines or other complex technical machinery or apparatus: as
a. : a person in charge of the engines of a ship
b. : the driver of a locomotive
c. : stationary engineer
5. : a person engaged in any of various occupations commonly regarded as requiring little skill or special knowledge — often used with a qualifying word
the white-coated engineers who sweep the streets of the city
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
intransitive verb
1. : to perform the work of an engineer
2. : contrive , maneuver
transitive verb
1.
a. : to act as an engineer in the laying out, construction, or management of
he engineered some great dams
b. : to design or produce by the methods of engineering
with the day approaching when fabrics can be engineered for any desired purpose — Henry Lesesne
engineering bigger and faster ships and longer and wider docks
2.
a. : to contrive or plan out usually with more or less subtle skill or craft
engineered a daring jailbreak
Roosevelt skillfully engineered events — Louis Morton
a hundred men could carry out such a plan for one who could engineer it
b. : to guide the course of : manage or supervise during production or development
engineering a bill through congress
engineered a corner in grain futures
the prenatal health clinic was engineered by the joint effort of local physicians and philanthropists
Synonyms: see guide
III. transitive verb
: to modify or produce by genetic engineering
corn engineered to resist crop pests