Meaning

noun motor that converts thermal energy to mechanical work

noun something used to achieve a purpose

noun a wheeled vehicle consisting of a self-propelled engine that is used to draw trains along railway tracks

originFrom Middle English engyn, from Anglo-Norman engine, Old French engin (“skill, cleverness, war machine”), from Latin ingenium (“innate or natural quality, nature, genius, a genius, an invention, (in Late Latin) a war-engine, battering-ram”), related to ingignō (“to instil by birth, implant, produce in”). Compare gin, ingenious, engineer.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0