different between engage vs affiance

English

Alternative forms

• ingage (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English engagen, from Old French engagier (“to pledge, engage”), from Frankish *anwadj?n (“to pledge”), from Proto-Germanic *an-, *andi- + Proto-Germanic *wadj?n? (“to pledge, secure”), from Proto-Germanic *wadj? (“pledge, guarantee”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed?- (“to pledge, redeem a pledge; guarantee, bail”), equivalent to en- +? gage. Cognate with Old English anwedd (“pledge, security”), Old English weddian (“to engage, covenant, undertake”), German wetten (“to bet, wager”), Icelandic veðja (“to wager”). More at wed.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n??e?d?/, /?n??e?d?/
• Rhymes: -e?d?

Verb

engage (third-person singular simple present engages, present participle engaging, simple past and past participle engaged)

1. (heading, transitive) To interact socially.
   1. To engross or hold the attention of; to keep busy or occupied.
   2. To draw into conversation.

      • the difficult task of engaging him in conversation

   3. To attract, to please; (archaic) to fascinate or win over (someone).

      • Good nature engages everybody to him.

2. (heading) To interact antagonistically.
   1. (transitive) To enter into conflict with (an enemy).
      • 1698-1699, Edmund Ludlow, Memoirs

        a favourable opportunity of engaging the enemy

   2. (intransitive) To enter into battle.
3. (heading) To interact contractually.
   1. (transitive) To arrange to employ or use (a worker, a space, etc.).
   2. (intransitive) To guarantee or promise (to do something).
   3. (transitive) To bind through legal or moral obligation (to do something, especially to marry) (usually in passive).

   4. (obsolete, transitive) To pledge, pawn (one's property); to put (something) at risk or on the line; to mortgage (houses, land).
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vii:

        Thou that doest liue in later times, must wage / Thy workes for wealth, and life for gold engage.

4. (heading) To interact mechanically.
   1. To mesh or interlock (of machinery, especially a clutch).
   2. (engineering, transitive) To come into gear with.

      The teeth of one cogwheel engage those of another.

5. (intransitive) To enter into (an activity), to participate (construed with in).

   • “ […] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic? […]”

6. (transitive, obsolete) To entangle.

Antonyms

• (to cause to mesh or interlock): disengage

Derived terms

• engagement
• disengage
• disengagement

Translations

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.?a?/

Verb

engage

1. first-person singular present indicative of engager
2. third-person singular present indicative of engager
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of engager
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of engager
5. second-person singular imperative of engager

Anagrams

• gagnée

English

Alternative forms

• affiaunce (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle French affiance, from affier (from Medieval Latin aff?d?re, from *f?d?re, from Latin f?dere) + -ance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??fa??ns/
• Rhymes: -a??ns

Verb

affiance (third-person singular simple present affiances, present participle affiancing, simple past and past participle affianced)

1. (transitive) To be betrothed to; to promise to marry.

See also

• fiance

Translations

Noun

affiance (plural affiances)

1. Faith, trust.
   • 1849, James Stephen, Essays in Ecclesiastical Biography

     Such feelings promptly yielded to his habitual affiance in the divine love.

   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine

     Lancelot, my Lancelot, thou in whom I have / Most joy and most affiance.

2. (archaic) A solemn engagement, especially a pledge of marriage.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.iv:

     I that Ladie to my spouse had wonne; / Accord of friends, consent of parents sought, / Affiance made, my happinesse begonne […].

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French afiance, from afier (“to promise”) +? -ance.

Noun

affiance f (plural affiances)

1. promise (verbal guarantee)

Descendants

• ? English: affiance

References

• affiance on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)