SG Heritage Dictionary

Engagement [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. The act of pawning, pledging or making liable for debt.

2. Obligation by agreement or contract. Men are often more ready to make engagements than to fulfil them.

3. Adherence to a party or cause; partiality.

4. Occupation; employment of the attention.

5. Play, by too long or constant engagement becomes

6. like an employment or profession.

7. Employment in fighting; the conflict of armies or fleets; battle; a general action; appropriately the conflict of whole armies or fleets, but applied to actions between small squadrons or single ships, rarely to a fight between detachments of land forces.

8. Obligation; motive; that which engages.

Engagement [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. The act of engaging, pledging, enlisting, occupying, or entering into contest.

2. The state of being engaged, pledged or occupied; specif., a pledge to take some one as husband or wife.

3. That which engages; engrossing occupation; employment of the attention; obligation by pledge, promise, or contract; an enterprise embarked in; as, his engagements prevented his acceptance of any office.

4. An action; a fight; a battle.

5. The state of being in gear; as, one part of a clutch is brought into engagement with the other part.

Business Roget’s Thesaurus §625

N. business, occupation, employment, pursuit, what one is doing, what one is about, affair, concern, matter, case, matter in hand, irons in the fire, thing to do, agendum, task, work, job, chore, errand, commission, mission, charge, care, duty, part, role, cue, province, function, lookout, department, capacity, sphere, orb, field, line, walk, walk of life, beat, round, routine, race, career, office, place, post, chargeship, incumbency, living, situation, berth, employ, service, engagement, undertaking, vocation, calling, profession, cloth, faculty, industry, art, industrial arts, craft, mystery, handicraft, trade, exercise, work, avocation, press of business

V. pass one's time in, employ one's time in, spend one's time in, employ oneself in, employ oneself upon, occupy oneself with, concern oneself with, make it one's business, undertake, enter a profession, betake oneself to, turn one's hand to, have to do with, office, place, post, chargeship, incumbency, living, situation, berth, employ, service, engagement, undertaking, drive a trade, carry on a trade, do a trade, transact a trade, carry on business, do business, transact business, keep a shop, ply one's task, ply one's trade, labor in one's vocation, pursue the even tenor of one's way, attend to business, attend to one's work, officiate, serve, act, act one's part, play one's part, do duty, serve the office of, discharge the office of, perform the office of, perform the duties of, perform the functions of, hold an office, fill an office, fill a place, fill a situation, hold a portfolio, hold a place, hold a situation, be about, be doing, be engaged in, be employed in, be occupied with, be at work on, have one's hands in, have in hand, have on one's hands, have on one's shoulders, bear the burden, have one's hands full, be in the hands of, be on the stocks, be on the anvil, pass through one's hands

Adj. businesslike, phr, workaday, "a business with an income at its heels", professional, amoto quaeramus seria ludo, official, par negotiis neque supra, functional, busy, on hand, in hand, in one's hands, afoot, on foot, on the anvil, going on, acting

Adv. in the course of business, all in one's day's work, professionally &c

Undertaking Roget’s Thesaurus §676

N. undertaking, compact, adventure, venture, engagement, enterprise, emprise, pilgrimage, matter in hand, move, first move

V. undertake, engage in, embark in, launch into, plunge into, volunteer, apprentice oneself to, engage, contract, take upon oneself, take upon one's shoulders, devote oneself to, take up, take in hand, tackle, set about, go about, set to, fall to, set to work, launch forth, set up shop, put in hand, put in execution, set forward, break the neck of a business, be in, for, put one's hand to, put one's foot in, betake oneself to, turn one's hand to, go to do, begin, broach, institute &c. one's (originate) 153, put one's hand to the plow, lay one's hand to the plow, put one's shoulder to the wheel, have in hand, have many irons in the fire

Adj. undertaking, on the anvil

Int. here goes

Contention Roget’s Thesaurus §720

N. contention, strife, contest, contestation, struggle, belligerency, opposition, controversy, polemics, debate, war of words, logomachy, litigation, paper war, high words, sparring, competition, rivalry, corrivalry, corrivalship, agonism|, concours, match, race, horse racing, heat, steeple chase, handicap, regatta, field day, sham fight, derby day, turf, sporting, bullfight, tauromachy, gymkhana, boat race, torpids, wrestling, greco-roman wrestling, pugilism, boxing, fisticuffs, the manly art of self-defense, spar, mill, set-to, round, bout, event, prize fighting, quarterstaff, single stick, gladiatorship, gymnastics, jiujitsu, jujutsu, kooshti, sumo, athletics, athletic sports, games of skill, shindy, fracas, clash of arms, tussle, scuffle, broil, fray, affray, affrayment|, velitation|, colluctation|, luctation, brabble, brigue|, scramble, melee, scrimmage, stramash, bushfighting, free fight, stand up fight, hand to hand, running fight, conflict, skirmish, rencounter, encounter, rencontre, collision, affair, brush, fight, battle, battle royal, combat, action, engagement, joust, tournament, tilt, tilting, tournay, list, pitched battle, death struggle, struggle for life or death, life or death struggle, armageddon, hard knocks, sharp contest, tug of war, naval engagement, naumachia, sea fight, duel, duello, single combat, monomachy, satisfaction, passage d'armes, passage of arms, affair of honor, triangular duel, hostile meeting, digladiation, deeds of arms, feats of arms, appeal to arms, pugnacity, combativeness, bone of contention

V. contend, contest, strive, struggle, scramble, wrestle, spar, square, exchange blows, exchange fisticuffs, fib|, justle, tussle, tilt, box, stave, fence, skirmish, pickeer, fight, wrangle, contend &c. with, grapple with, engage with, close with, buckle with, bandy with, try conclusions with, have a brush, with, tilt with, encounter, fall foul of, pitch into, clapperclaw, run a tilt at, oppose, reluct, join issue, come to blows, go to loggerheads, set to, come to the scratch, exchange shots, measure swords, meet hand to hand, take up the cudgels, take up the glove, take up the gauntlet, enter the lists, couch one's lance, give satisfaction, appeal to arms, lay about one, break the peace, compete with, cope with, vie with, race with, outvie, emulate, rival, run a race, contend &c. for, stipulate for, stickle for, insist upon, make a point of

Adj. contending, together by the ears, at loggerheads at war at issue, competitive, rival, belligerent, contentious, combative, bellicose, unpeaceful, warlike, quarrelsome, pugnacious, pugilistic, gladiatorial, palestric, palestrical

Phr. a verbis ad verbera, a word and a blow, "a very pretty quarrel as it stands", commune periculum concordiam parit, lis litem generat

Promise Roget’s Thesaurus §768

N. promise, undertaking, word, troth, plight, pledge, parole, word of honor, vow, oath, profession, assurance, warranty, guarantee, insurance, obligation, contract, stipulation, engagement, preengagement, affiance, betroth, betrothal, betrothment

V. promise, give a promise, undertake, engage, make an engagement, form an engagement, enter into an engagement, enter on an engagement, bind oneself, tie oneself, pledge oneself, commit oneself, take upon oneself, vow, swear, give one's word, pass one's word, pledge one's word, plight one's word, give one's honor, pass one's honor, pledge one's honor, plight one's honor, give credit, pass credit, pledge credit, plight credit, give troth, pass troth, pledge troth, plight troth, betroth, plight faith, assure, warrant, guarantee, covenant, attest, hold out an expectation, contract an obligation, become bound to, become sponsor for, answer for, be answerable for, secure, give security, underwrite, adjure, administer an oath, put to one's oath, swear a witness

Adj. promising, promissory, votive, under hand and seal, upon oath, promised, affianced, pledged, bound, committed, compromised, in for it

Adv. as one's head shall answer for

Phr. in for a penny in for a pound, ex voto, gage d'amour