engineering (n.)
mid-14c., enginour, “constructor of military engines,” from Old French engigneor “engineer, architect, maker of war-engines; schemer” (12c.), from Late Latin ingeniare (engine); general sense of “inventor, designer” recorded from early 15c.; civil sense, in reference to public works, recorded from c. 1600. Meaning “locomotive driver” is first attested 1832, American English.
(v.) 1818, “act as an engineer,”. Figurative sense of “arrange, contrive, guide or manage (via ingenuity or tact)” is attested from 1864, originally in a political context.
Related: Middle English had a verb engine “contrive, construct” (late 14c.), also “seduce, trick, deceive” (c. 1300) and “put to torture.”
