engine
part of speech
noun (engine, engines)
meaning for a pupil
1) An engine is a machine that burns fuel or uses power to make something move, like a car, train or plane. tree →
2) The engine of a train is the front part that pulls the cars. tree →
3) A fire engine is a fire truck. tree →
4) A search engine is a website that finds things on the internet. tree →
sense in the lessons
maths: a story word or a part counted, as in a plane with 2 engines (total = planes × engines each), or a fire engine; science: engines turn fuel into movement, electric motors; history: steam engines; everyday life: start the engine, the fire engine's siren; safety: move aside for fire engines
examples
- A plane has 4 engines. tree →
- The train engine pulls 12 cars. tree →
- Two fire engines came. tree →
- How many engines do 3 planes have? tree →
- The car engine would not start. tree →
- Steam engines burn coal. tree →
- Use a search engine to find facts. tree →
- Pull over when you hear a fire engine. tree →
- He had been running a long time before the engine; he had no idea that I was travelling there. tree →
note
Thing counted, sometimes a per-item number. Trap: none special. An engine burns fuel; a motor can run on electricity.
In the corpora
- Dogs learn the sound of each car engine, and they hear a dog whistle that is too high for people to hear.
- The baiji found fish by sending clicks and listening for echoes, and ship engines may have drowned them out.
- Crying on the platform, he wonders about hiding under a seat, when a kind engine-driver says «Hullo, mother!
- A siren means an emergency vehicle, such as an ambulance, a fire engine or a police car, is coming.
- Knowing your address helps an ambulance or fire engine reach you faster.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «engine» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.