Engineers

Engineers, as a military term, used to denote that part of an army which occupies itself with the making of bridges, fortifications, and other military constructions, and prepares plans and surveys. In the British army the Corps of Royal Engineers consists of 40 companies, and undertakes among its other duties the execution of the Ordnance Survey. The non-commissioned officers and privates of the Royal Engineers receive a higher rate of pay than the ordinary infantry, and are for the most part recruited from among skilful artisans. The word is also used in the navy to designate those officers of a steamship who have the charge and management of the engines. The word has also a further and wider signification, in which it is equivalent to what the French call meeanicien, an engine-driver, and our English use of it in several distinct senses often puzzles foreigners.