Verb

(engag)

To interact socially.

#To engross or hold the attention of; to keep busy or occupied.

#*(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)

#*:Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage .

#To draw into conversation.

#*(Nathaniel Hawthorne) (1804-1864)

#*:the difficult task of engaging him in conversation

#To attract, to please; (archaic) to fascinate or win over (someone).

#*(Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)

#*:Good nature engages everybody to him.

(lb) To interact antagonistically.

#(lb) To enter into conflict with (an enemy).

#*(Fitz Hugh Ludlow) (1836-1870)

#*:a favourable opportunity of engaging the enemy

#(lb) To enter into battle.

(lb) To interact contractually.

#(lb) To arrange to employ or use (a worker, a space, etc.).

#*{{quote-book, year=1905, author=

, title= , chapter=2 citation , passage=For this scene, a large number of supers are engaged , and in order to further swell the crowd, practically all the available stage hands have to ‘walk on’ dressed in various coloured dominoes, and all wearing masks.}}

#(lb) To guarantee or promise (to do something).

#(lb) To bind through legal or moral obligation (to do something, especially to marry) (usually in passive).

#:

# To pledge, pawn (one's property); to put (something) at risk or on the line; to mortgage (houses, land).

#* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.vii:

Thou that doest liue in later times, must wage / Thy workes for wealth, and life for gold engage .

(lb) To interact mechanically.

#To mesh or interlock (of machinery, especially a clutch).

#:

# To come into gear with.

The teeth of one cogwheel engage those of another.

(label) To enter into (an activity), to participate (construed with in).

*

*:“[…] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic?”

Verb

(en verb)

(obsolete) To support (someone), to back up or assist (someone) in an action.

*:

*:And thenne he asked leue & wente oute of his heremytage for to mayntene his neuewe ageynst the myghty Erle / and so hit happed that this man that lyeth here dede dyd so moche by his wysedome and hardynes that the Erle was take and thre of his lordes by force of this dede man

To keep up; to preserve; to uphold (a state, condition etc.).

*, chapter=17

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.}}

*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 5, author=Phil Dawkes, work=BBC Sport

, title= QPR 2-3 Man City , passage=Mancini's men were far from their best but dug in to earn a 10th win in 11 league games and an eighth successive victory in all competitions to maintain their five-point lead at the top of the table.}}

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-03, author=Nancy Langston, volume=101, issue=2, page=98

, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= Mining the Boreal North , passage=Reindeer are well suited to the taiga’s frigid winters. They can maintain a thermogradient between body core and the environment of up to 100 degrees, in part because of insulation provided by their fur, and in part because of counter-current vascular heat exchange systems in their legs and nasal passages.}}

To declare or affirm (a clause) to be true; to assert.

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 19, author=Josh Halliday, work=the Guardian

, title= Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised? , passage=She maintains that the internet should face similar curbs to TV because young people are increasingly living online. "It's totally different, someone at Google watching the video from the comfort of their office in San Francisco to someone from a council house in London, where this video is happening right outside their front door."}}