Engagement
[ɪn'geɪdʒm(ə)nt;en-] or [ɪn'ɡedʒmənt]
Definition
(noun.) employment for performers or performing groups that lasts for a limited period of time; 'the play had bookings throughout the summer'.
(noun.) the act of sharing in the activities of a group; 'the teacher tried to increase his students' engagement in class activities'.
(noun.) contact by fitting together; 'the engagement of the clutch'; 'the meshing of gears'.
Typed by Garrett--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The act of engaging, pledging, enlisting, occupying, or entering into contest.
(n.) The state of being engaged, pledged or occupied; specif., a pledge to take some one as husband or wife.
(n.) 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.
(n.) An action; a fight; a battle.
(n.) The state of being in gear; as, one part of a clutch is brought into engagement with the other part.
Edited by Joanne
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Promise, stipulation, assurance, contract, pledge, obligation.[2]. Employment, occupation, business, AVOCATION, calling, vocation.[3]. Battle, conflict, combat, contest, action, fight, encounter, rencounter.
Typed by Felix
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of a business engagement, denotes dulness and worries in trade. For young people to dream that they are engaged, denotes that they will not be much admired. To dream of breaking an engagement, denotes a hasty, and an unwise action in some important matter or disappointments may follow.
Typed by Brian
Unserious Contents or Definition
In war, a battle. In love, the salubrious calm that precedes the real hostilities.
Typed by Eliza
Examples
- I am also to take it as a matter of fact that the proposal to withdraw from the engagement came, in the first instance, from YOU? Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- He had even yielded to her wish for a long engagement, since she had found the one disarming answer to his plea for haste. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- In the spring of 1862 the Monitor met the Merrimac in engagement in Hampton Roads, and established the great value of the turret monitor. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Crittenden had a severe engagement with some of Hill's corps on his crossing the river, and lost heavily. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- It was in those days rather a rare accomplishment, and led to her engagement with the orthodox Miss Pinkerton. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Unfortunately I have an engagement. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- At the conclusion of the engagement, a place had been found for the poor boy in a cart, and he had been brought back to Brussels. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- I therefore pleaded another engagement; and observing that Mrs. Micawber's spirits were immediately lightened, I resisted all persuasion to forego it. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- I conceive a conditional engagement to be null and void, when the conditions are not fulfilled. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Any inward debate Lydgate had as to the consequences of this engagement which had stolen upon him, turned on the paucity of time rather than of money. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- The sooner the engagement's off, the better. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It must have been from attachment only, that she could be led to form the engagement. Jane Austen. Emma.
- During the day General Meade's advance had considerable fighting with the enemy's rear-guard, but was unable to bring on a general engagement. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Celia had become less afraid of saying things to Dorothea since this engagement: cleverness seemed to her more pitiable than ever. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Well, she has taken a sudden resolution to break the engagement. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Chance set me free of my London engagements to-day sooner than I had expected, and I have got here, in consequence, earlier than my appointed time. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- He has many friends, and is at a time of life when friends and engagements are continually increasing. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- Our total loss (not including Burnside's) in all these engagements amounted to 757 killed, 4,529 wounded and 330 missing. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Had Canby been in other engagements afterwards, he would, I have no doubt, have advanced without any fear arising from a sense of the responsibility. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Twice was his card found on the table, when they returned from their morning's engagements. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- Ordinary people might have hesitated before setting aside their own engagements to suit the convenience of a stranger. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- A better army, man for man, probably never faced an enemy than the one commanded by General Taylor in the earliest two engagements of the Mexican war. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- At other times my engagements used to be with him to go over his business affairs at Menlo Park at night, if I was occupied in New York during the day. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- The former left them soon after tea to fulfill her evening engagements; and Elinor was obliged to assist in making a whist table for the others. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- While I can have my mornings to myself, said she, it is enough--I think it is no sacrifice to join occasionally in evening engagements. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- Sir Thomas, drawing back from intimacies in general, was particularly disinclined, at this time, for any engagements but in one quarter. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- Sherman's loss in these last engagements in killed, wounded, and missing, was about sixteen hundred. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Harriet, necessarily drawn away by her engagements with the Martins, was less and less at Hartfield; which was not to be regretted. Jane Austen. Emma.
- What engagements? William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- All the engagements fought ought to have served to encourage the enemy. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
Editor: Nat