ENGINE

, in Mechanics, a compound machine, consisting of several simple ones, as wheels, screws, levers, or the like, combined together, in order to lift, cast, or sustain a weight, or produce some other considerable effect, so as to save either force or time.

There are numberless kinds of engines; of which some are for war, as the Balista, Catapulta, Scorpio, Aries or Ram, &c; others for the arts of peace, as Mills, Cranes, Presses, Clocks, Watches, &c, &c.