engagement

n 1: a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course

of a war; "Grant won a decisive victory in the battle of

Chickamauga"; "he lost his romantic ideas about war when

he got into a real engagement" [syn: {battle}, {conflict},

{fight}]

2: a meeting arranged in advance; "she asked how to avoid

kissing at the end of a date" [syn: {date}, {appointment}]

3: a mutual promise to marry [syn: {betrothal}, {troth}]

4: the act of giving someone a job [syn: {employment}, {hire},

{hiring}]

5: a job for performers or performing groups that lasts for a

limited period of time; "the play had bookings throughout

the summer" [syn: {booking}]

6: contact by fitting together; "the engagement of the clutch";

"the meshing of gears" [syn: {mesh}, {meshing}, {interlocking}]

7: sharing the activities of a group; "the teacher tried to

increase his students' engagement in class activities"

[syn: {participation}, {involvement}] [ant: {non-engagement},

{non-engagement}, {non-engagement}]

enhancement

1. A change to a product which is intended to make it better

in some way, e.g. new functions, faster, or occasionally more

compatible with other systems. Enhancements to {hardware}

components, especially {integrated circuits} often mean they

are smaller and less demanding of resources. Sadly, this is

almost never true of {software} enhancements.

2. {Marketroid}-speak for a {bug fix}. This abuse of language

is a popular and time-tested way to turn incompetence into

increased revenue. A hacker being ironic would instead call

the fix a {feature}, or perhaps save some effort by declaring

"{That's not a bug, that's a feature!}".

[{Jargon File}]

(1998-04-04)