Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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.