mid-14c., enginour, "constructor of military engines," from Old French engigneor "engineer, architect, maker of war-engines; schemer" (12c.), from Late Latin ingeniare (see engine); general sense of "inventor, designer" is recorded from early 15c.; civil sense, in reference to public works, is recorded from c. 1600 but not the common meaning of the word until 19c (hence lingering distinction as civil engineer). Meaning "locomotive driver" is first attested 1832, American English. A "maker of engines" in ancient Greece was a mekhanopoios.

1818, "act as an engineer," from engineer (n.). Figurative sense of "arrange, contrive, guide or manage (via ingenuity or tact)" is attested from 1864, originally in a political context. Related: Engineered. Middle English had a verb engine "contrive, construct" (late 14c.), also "seduce, trick, deceive" (c. 1300) and "put to torture."

"design and construct anew," 1944; see re- "back, again" + engineer (v.). Related: Re-engineered; re-engineering.

"engineer who designs and builds mills and their machinery," late 15c., from mill (n.1) + wright.

"the science of smelting," 1670s, from Modern Latin metallurgia, from Greek metallourgos "worker in metal," from metallon "metal" (see metal) + -ergos "that works," from ergon "work" (from PIE root *werg- "to do"). Related: Metallurgical; metallurgist (1660s).

1720, "work done by an engineer," from engineer (n.). As a field of study, attested from 1792. An earlier word was engineership (1640s); engineery was attempted in 1793, but it did not stick.

German manufacturing company, named for founder Max Braun, mechanical engineer in Frankfurt am Main (1921).

type of rotary internal combustion engine, 1961, from name of German engineer Felix Wankel (1902-1988).

electronic musical instrument, 1927, from the name of its inventor, Russian engineer Léon Thérémin (1896-1993).

single-barreled water-cooled machine gun, 1885 (Maxim gun), named for inventor, U.S.-born British engineer Sir Hiram S. Maxim (1840-1916).