Emily Dickinson Lexicon

EN-FOR-CED-LY, adv.

By violence; not by choice. Shak.

EN-FORCE-MENT, n.

1. The act of enforcing; compulsion; force applied. Ralegh.
2. That which gives force, energy or effect; sanction. The penalties of law are enforcements. Locke.
3. Motive of conviction; urgent evidence. Hammond.
4. Pressing exigence; that which urges or constrains. Slack.
5. In a general sense, any thing which compels or constrains; any thing which urges either the body or the mind.
6. A putting in execution; as, the enforcement of law.

EN-FOR-CER, n.

One who compels, constrains or urges; one who effects by violence; one who carries into effect.

EN-FOR-CING, ppr.

Giving force or strength; compelling; urging; constraining; putting in execution.

EN-FORM', v.t.

To form; to fashion. [See Form.]

EN-FOUL'DER-ED, a. [Fr. foudroyer.]

Mixed with lightning. [Not in use.] Spenser.

EN-FRANCHISE, v.t. [s as z. from franchise.]

1. To set free; to liberate from slavery. Bacon.
2. To make free of a city, corporation or state; to admit to the privileges of a freeman. The English colonies were enfranchised by special charters. Davies. Hale.
3. To free or release from custody. Shak.
4. To naturalize; to denizen; to receive as denizens; as, to enfranchise foreign words.

EN-FRAN'CHIS-ED, pp.

1. Set free; released from bondage.
2. Admitted to the rights and privileges of freemen.

EN-FRAN'CHISE-MENT, n.

1. Release from slavery or custody. Shak.
2. The admission of persons to the freedom of a corporation or state; investiture with the privileges of free citizens; the incorporating of a person into any society or body politic.

EN-FRAN'CHIS-ER, n.

One who enfranchises.

EN-FRAN'CHIS-ING, ppr.

Setting free from slavery or custody; admitting to the rights and privileges of denizens or free citizens in a state, or to the privileges of a freeman in a corporation. Cowel.

EN-FRO'WARD, v.t.

To make froward or perverse. [Not used.] Sandy.

EN-FRO'ZEN, a.

Frozen; congealed. [Not used.] Spenser.

EN-GAGE, v.i.

1. To encounter; to begin to fight; to attack in conflict. The armies engaged at Marengo, in a general battle.
2. To embark in any business; to take a concern in; to undertake. Be cautious not to engage in controversy, without indispensable necessity.
3. To promise or pledge one's word; to bind one's self; as, a friend has engaged to supply the necessary funds.

EN-GAGE, v.t. [Fr. engager; en and gager, to lay, to bet, to hire; Arm. ingagi. See Gage and Wage.]

1. To make liable for a debt to a creditor; to bind one's self as surety. Shal.
2. To pawn; to stake as a pledge. Hudibras.
3. To enlist; to bring into a party; as, to engage men for service; to engage friends to aid in a cause.
4. To embark in an affair; as, be not hasty to engage yourself in party disputes.
5. To gain; to win and attach; to draw to. Good nature engages every one to its possessor. To every duty he could minds engage. Waller.
6. To unite and bind by contract or promise. Nations engage themselves to each other by treaty. The young often engage themselves to their sorrow.
7. To attract and fix; as, to engage the attention.
8. To occupy; to employ assiduously. We were engaged in conversation. The nation is engaged in war.
9. To attack in contest; to encounter. The army engaged the enemy at ten o'clock. The captain engaged the ship, at point blank distance.

EN-GAG-ED, pp.

or a. Pledged; promised; enlisted; gained and attached; attracted and fixed; embarked; earnestly employed; zealous.

EN-GAG-ED-LY, adv.

With earnestness; with attachment.

EN-GAG-ED-NESS, n.

The state of being seriously and earnestly occupied; zeal; animation. Flint's Massillon. Panoplist.

EN-GAGE-MENT, n.

1. The act of pawning, pledging, or making liable for debt.
2. Obligation by agreement or contract. Men are often more ready to make engagements than to fulfill them.
3. Adherence to a party or cause; partiality. Swift.
4. Occupation; employmemt of the attention. Play, by too long or constant engagement, becomes like an employment or profession. Rogers.
5. Employment in fighting; the conflict of armies or fleets; battle; a general action; appropriately the conflict of whole armies or fleets, but applied to actions between small squadrons or single ships, rarely to a fight between detachments of land forces.
6. Obligation; motive; that which engages. Hammond.

EN-GAG-ER, n.

One that enters into an engagement or agreement.

EN-GAG-ING, ppr.

1. Pawning; making liable for debt; enlisting; bringing into a party or cause; promising; binding; winning and attaching; encountering; embarking.
2. adj. Winning; attractive; tending to draw the attention or the affections; pleasing; as, engaging manners or address.

EN-GAG-ING-LY, adv.

In a manner to win the affections.

EN-GAL'LANT, v.t.

To make a gallant of. [Not used.] B. Jonson.

EN-GAOL, v.t. [enja'le.]

To imprison. [Not used.] Shak.

EN-GAR'BOIL, v.t.

To disorder. [Not in use.]