engineer

A soldier engaged in designing or constructing military works for attack or defence, or other engineering works.alsofiguratively

• For tis the ſport to haue the enginer / Hoiſt with his ovvne petar, an't ſhall goe hard / But I vvill delue one yard belovve their mines, / And blovve them at the Moone: […]
• Novv he began another Trade, and became an Ingenor, hauing got eight Fire-brands of hell more to him, onely of purpoſe to ſet our houſe a fire.

A soldier in charge of operating a weapon; an artilleryman, a gunner.alsofigurativelyobsolete

• This is hard welcome, but it was not you, / At whom the fatal enginer did ayme, / My breaſt the levell was, though you the marke, / In which conſpiracie anſwere me Duke, / Is not thy ſoule as guiltie as the Earles?
• Wit's an unruly engine, wildly ſtriking / Sometimes a friend, ſometimes the engineer.

A person professionally engaged in the technical design and construction of large-scale private and public works such as bridges, buildings, harbours, railways, roads, etc.; a civil engineer.broadly

• [T]o an Enginer alſo, vvho promiſed to bring into the Capitoll huge Columnes vvith ſmall charges, hee gave for his deviſe no meane revvard; and releaſed him his labour in performing that vvorke, ſaying vvithall by vvay of preface, That he ſ

Originally, a person engaged in designing, constructing, or maintaining engines or machinery; now (more generally), a person qualified or professionally engaged in any branch of engineering, or studying to do so.broadly

• Macanopoietico, an inginer, an engine-maker.
• Somehow, everybody who isn’t in sales, marketing, or design became an engineer. “We’re hiring engineers,” read startup websites, which could mean anything from Javascript^([sic]) programmers to roboticists.

A person trained to operate an engine.; A person who operates a steam engine; specifically (nautical), a person employed to operate the steam engine in the engine room of a ship.broadlyhistorical

• The engineer, the deck-hand on the great lakes, or on the Mississippi or St. Lawrence or Sacramento, or Hudson or Paumanok sound, claims him.
• One of the stokers was disabled, the others had given in, the second engineer and the donkey-man were firing-up. The third engineer was standing by the steam-valve. The engines were being tended by hand.

A person trained to operate an engine.; A person who drives or operates a fire engine (firefighting apparatus).USbroadly

A person trained to operate an engine.; A person who drives or operates a locomotive; a train driver.USbroadly

Preceded by a qualifying word: a person who uses abilities or knowledge to manipulate events or people.broadly

• a political engineer

A person who formulates plots or schemes; a plotter, a schemer.broadlyderogatoryoften

• [T]he fighting men of England, masters of destruction, engineers of death!

An honorific title given to engineers before their name.

To employ one's abilities and knowledge as an engineer to design, construct, and/or maintain (something, such as a machine or a structure), usually for industrial or public use.transitive

To use genetic engineering to alter or construct (a DNA sequence), or to alter (an organism).specificallytransitive

• In an interesting animal study, scientists engineered mice with a specific gene defect that caused memory and learning problems.

To plan or achieve (a goal) by contrivance or guile; to finagle, to wangle.transitive

To formulate plots or schemes; to plot, to scheme.intransitive

To work as an engineer.intransitiverare

• What of the grand tools with which we engineer, like kobolds and enchanters,—tunnelling Alps, canalling the American Isthmus, piercing the Arabian desert?