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"engine" is also used as a crossword clue. If that's what you saw, the answer is often motor (5 letters).
Definitions
motor that converts thermal energy to mechanical work
Word origin
From Middle English engyn, from Anglo-Norman engine, Old French engin (“skill, cleverness, war machine”), from Latin ingenium (“innate or natural quality, nature, genius, a genius, an invention, (in Late Latin) a war-engine, battering-ram”), related to ingignō (“to instil by birth, implant, produce in”). Compare gin, ingenious, engineer.
Used in a sentence
“Their warlike Engins and munition Exceed the forces of their martial men.”
“Flattery must be the most powerful Argument that cou'd be used to Human Creatures. Making use of this bewitching Engine, they extoll'd the Excellency of our Nature above other Animals [...].”
“What if the Foot, ordain'd the duſt to tread, / Or Hand, to toil, aſpir'd to be the Head? / What if the Head, the Eye, or Ear repin'd / To ſerve mere Engines to the ruling Mind?”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer3 curated clues
01“Motor”6 letters
02“Motor in a vehicle”6 letters
03“Motor inside a car”6 letters
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