engine: see diesel engine diesel engine, type of internal-combustion engine invented by the German engineer Rudolf Diesel and patented by him in 1892. Although his engine was designed to use coal dust as fuel, the diesel engine now burns low-cost fuel oil.
..... Click the link for more information. ; internal-combustion engine internal-combustion engine, one in which combustion of the fuel takes place in a confined space, producing expanding gases that are used directly to provide mechanical power.
..... Click the link for more information. ; steam engine steam engine, machine for converting heat energy into mechanical energy using steam as a medium, or working fluid. When water is converted into steam it expands, its volume increasing about 1,600 times.
..... Click the link for more information. ; rotary engine rotary engine, internal-combustion engine whose cycle is similar to that of a piston engine, but which produces rotary motion directly without any conversion from reciprocating motion.
..... Click the link for more information. ; automobile automobile, self-propelled vehicle used for travel on land. The term is commonly applied to a four-wheeled vehicle designed to carry two to six passengers and a limited amount of cargo, as contrasted with a truck , which is designed primarily for the transportation
..... Click the link for more information. .

engine

Machine that can convert any of various forms of energy into mechanical power or motion. The steam engines developed during the Industrial Revolution to power stationary machinery were modified in the 19th century to propel locomotives and ships, and were joined later by steam turbines. Internal-combustion engines were developed by Nikolaus Otto and Rudolf Diesel in the late 19th century. Gas turbines and rocket engines came into use in the later 20th century. See also diesel engine, gasoline engine, jet engine, rocket, and rotary engine.

(1) A specialized processor, such as a graphics processor. Like any engine, the faster it runs, the quicker the job gets done. See graphics engine and printer engine.

(2) Software that performs a very specific and repetitive function in contrast to an application that has many functions offered to the user. For example, a "search engine" or "database engine" responds to user queries over and over again. An "SMTP engine" just forwards mail when required. A "dictionary engine" looks up words. See search engine and database engine.

(jargon)

engine - 1. A piece of hardware that encapsulates some function but can't be used without some kind of front end. Today we have, especially, "print engine": the guts of a laser printer.

2. An analogous piece of software; notionally, one that does a lot of noisy crunching, such as a "database engine", or "search engine".

The hackish senses of "engine" are actually close to its original, pre-Industrial-Revolution sense of a skill, clever device, or instrument (the word is cognate to "ingenuity"). This sense had not been completely eclipsed by the modern connotation of power-transducing machinery in Charles Babbage's time, which explains why he named the stored-program computer that he designed in 1844 the "Analytical Engine".

engine (redirected from Engine design)

engine

engine
(redirected from Engine design)