engine failure
7
3.7
- noun
- /ˈɛnʤɪn ˈfeɪljər/
:
falla del motor
- During the flight, the pilot announced that they were experiencing engine failure and needed to make an emergency landing.
- catastrophic engine failure
- uncontained engine failure
- total engine failure
Examples
-
Jean and his party barely escaped in Jean's self-constructed aircraft but an engine failure occurred and they splash landed in the ocean.
-
We've had an engine failure.
-
Chances are the plane took off, probably at night, and experienced engine failure soon after it got out over the water.
Fiction book (2000) -
Tango-Tango, we have engine failure.
-
We have engine failure and we may have to glide in.
-
In the event of engine failure, the blades can automatically gyrate and bring the craft down.
-
"In addition, the use of E15 will lower fuel efficiency and possibly cause premature engine failure," he wrote.
Blog text (25) -
"I repeat, engine failure."
Fiction book (1990) -
LaGuardia, Cactus 1549, dual engine failure.
-
By correlating oil samples with known engine failures, the software should be able to provide prognostic information, said Gould.
Academic text (2000)
Synonyms
396
3.3
Loss of the ability to work, especially of an organ or machine
7
3.5
A machine or system stopping so it cannot work
3
3.4
A machine or device that stops working when you need it
How Reliable
- UK
7
3.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning a situation in which an engine stops working or does not run properly is directly and transparently derived from combining engine (a machine that converts fuel into mechanical energy) and failure (loss of normal function), with no idiomatic or metaphorical shift. This noun+noun compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Engine failure comes from the simple image of an engine that suddenly 'stops working' or 'breaks down', leaving a car, boat, or plane unable to move. So the phrase means 'an engine stops working'.