Adjacent Words

Engaged definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ENGA'GED, pp. or a. Pledged; promised; enlisted; gained and attached; attracted and fixed; embarked; earnestly employed; zealous.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: having ones attention or mind or energy engaged; "she keeps herself fully occupied with volunteer activities"; "deeply engaged in conversation" [syn: engaged, occupied]
2: involved in military hostilities; "the desperately engaged ships continued the fight"
3: reserved in advance [syn: booked, engaged, set- aside]
4: (of facilities such as telephones or lavatories) unavailable for use by anyone else or indicating unavailability; (`engaged' is a British term for a busy telephone line); "her line is busy"; "receptionists' telephones are always engaged"; "the lavatory is in use"; "kept getting a busy signal" [syn: busy, engaged, in use]
5: (used of toothed parts or gears) interlocked and interacting; "the gears are engaged"; "meshed gears"; "intermeshed twin rotors" [syn: engaged, meshed, intermeshed]
6: having services contracted for; "the carpenter engaged (or employed) for the job is sick"
7: built against or attached to a wall; "engaged columns"

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 1629 1. involved in activity ; occupied, busy 2. pledged to be married ; betrothed 3. greatly interested ; committed 4. involved especially in a hostile encounter 5. partly embedded in a wall <an engaged column> 6. being in gear ; meshed

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 under a promise to marry. 2 a occupied, busy. b reserved, booked. 3 Brit. (of a telephone line) unavailable because already in use. Phrases and idioms: engaged signal (or tone) Brit. a sound indicating that a telephone line is engaged.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Engage En*gage", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Engaged; p. pr. & vb. n. Engaging.] [F. engager; pref. en- (L. in) + gage pledge, pawn. See Gage.] 1. To put under pledge; to pledge; to place under obligations to do or forbear doing something, as by a pledge, oath, or promise; to bind by contract or promise. ``I to thee engaged a prince's word.'' --Shak. 2. To gain for service; to bring in as associate or aid; to enlist; as, to engage friends to aid in a cause; to engage men for service. 3. To gain over; to win and attach; to attract and hold; to draw. Good nature engages everybody to him. --Addison. 4. To employ the attention and efforts of; to occupy; to engross; to draw on. Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage. --Pope. Taking upon himself the difficult task of engaging him in conversation. --Hawthorne. 5. To enter into contest with; to encounter; to bring to conflict. A favorable opportunity of engaging the enemy. --Ludlow. 6. (Mach.) To come into gear with; as, the teeth of one cogwheel engage those of another, or one part of a clutch engages the other part.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Engaged En*gaged", a. 1. Occupied; employed; busy. 2. Pledged; promised; especially, having the affections pledged; promised in marriage; affianced; betrothed. 3. Greatly interested; of awakened zeal; earnest. 4. Involved; esp., involved in a hostile encounter; as, the engaged ships continued the fight. Engaged column. (Arch.) Same as Attached column. See under Attach, v. t.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. Someone who is engaged in or engaged on a particular activity is doing that thing. (FORMAL) They found the three engaged in target practice. ...the various projects he was engaged on. ADJ: v-link ADJ in/on n 2. When two people are engaged, they have agreed to marry each other. We got engaged on my eighteenth birthday... ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, oft ADJ to n 3. If a telephone or a telephone line is engaged, it is already being used by someone else so that you are unable to speak to the person you are phoning. (BRIT; in AM, use busy) The line is engaged... ADJ: v-link ADJ 4. If a public toilet is engaged, it is already being used by someone else. (BRIT; in AM, usually use occupied) ADJ: v-link ADJ

Moby Thesaurus

absorbed, absorbed in, accessory, affianced, agreed, armed, arranged, arrayed, assured, at it, at work, battled, betrothed, bound, buried in, busy, caught up in, committed, compacted, compromised, contemplating, contemplative, contracted, covenanted, deep, deployed, devoted, devoted to, embattled, employed, engrossed, engrossed in, full of business, guaranteed, hard at it, hard at work, immersed, immersed in, implicated, in battle array, in harness, intended, intent, intent on, involved, lost in, meditating, meditative, monomaniacal, monopolized, obligated, obsessed, occupied, on duty, on the go, on the hop, on the job, on the jump, on the move, on the run, partaking, participant, participating, participative, participatory, pledged, plighted, preoccupied, promised, ranged, rapt, sealed, settled, sharing, signed, single-minded, stipulated, studious, studying, submerged in, swept up, sworn, taken up with, tied up, totally absorbed, undertaken, underwritten, warranted, working, wrapped, wrapped in, wrapped up, wrapped up in