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That which engages or occupies; that which consumes time or attention; office or post of business; service; as, agricultural employments; mechanical employments; public employments; in the employment of government. Cares are employments, and without employ The soul is on a rack. Young.

, suddenly, or deliberately; especially, to meet in opposition or with hostile intent; to engage in conflict with; to oppose; to struggle with; as, to encounter a friend in traveling; two armies encounter each other; to encounter obstacles or difficulties, to encounter strong evidence of a truth. Then certain philosoph…

To engage for military or naval service, the name being entered on a list or register; as, to enlist men.

To engage in; to become occupied with; as, to enter the legal profession, the book trade, etc.

Willingness or eagerness to engage in labor which requires boldness, promptness, energy, and like qualities; as, a man of great enterprise.

To engage the attention of agreeably; to amuse with that which makes the time pass pleasantly; to divert; as, to entertain friends with conversation, etc. The weary time she can not entertain. Shak.

ion for the table; a hospitable repast; a feast; a formal or elegant meal. (b) That which engages the attention agreeably, amuses or diverts, whether in private, as by conversation, etc., or in public, by performances of some kind; amusement. Theatrical entertainments conducted with greater elegance and refinement. Pre…

eeling on behalf of a cause or a subject; ardent and imaginative zeal or interest; as, he engaged in his profession with enthusiasm. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Emerson.

a religious madman; a fanatic. (b) One whose mind is wholly possessed and heated by what engages it; one who is influenced by a peculiar; fervor of mind; an ardent and imaginative person. Enthusiasts soon understand each other. W. Irving.

A deed, bond, or other written engagement, delivered to a third person, to be held by him till some act is done or some condition is performed, and then to be by him delivered to the grantee. Blackstone.

To free from an impending obligation or duty; hence, to disengage; to dispense with; to release by favor; also, to remit by favor; not to exact; as, to excuse a forfeiture. I pray thee have me excused. xiv. 19.

A written engagement on the part of a creditor, allowing a debtor further time to pay a debt. Counter extension. (Surg.) See under Counter. -- Extension table, a table so constructed as to be readily extended or contracted in length.

To become unable to meet one's engagements; especially, to be unable to pay one's debts or discharge one's business obligation; to become bankrupt or insolvent.

Firm in adherence to promises, oaths, contracts, treaties, or other engagements. The faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him. Deut. vii. 9.

o fall from, to recede or depart from; not to adhere to; as, to fall from an agreement or engagement; to fall from allegiance or duty. -- To fall from grace (M. E. Ch.), to sin; to withdraw from the faith. -- To fall home (Ship Carp.), to curve inward; -- said of the timbers or upper parts of a ship's side which are…

To engage in the business of tilling the soil; to labor as a farmer.

Pertaining to agriculture; devoted to, adapted to, or engaged in, farming; as, farming tools; farming land; a farming community.

de on a revolving shaft, which is driven from another shaft by a band, and arranged to disengage and reëngage the machinery driven thereby. When the machinery is to be stopped, the band is transferred from the pulley fixed to the shaft to the pulley which revolves freely upon it, and vice versa. -- Hard and fast (Naut…

One who deliberately puts an end to his own existence, or loses his life while engaged in the commission of an unlawful or malicious act; a suicide. Burrill.

d. -- Feme sole trader or merchant (Eng. Law), a married woman, by the custom of London, engages in business on her own account, inpendently of her husband.