Sarah Ehrett wrote:
Definition of motor
noun

a machine, especially one powered by electricity or internal combustion,
[...]
Motors are powered by electricity. Engines have internal combustion.

Sorry, I see a contradiction here.

This is a really puzzling discussion. To take the confusion further: in
German, everything is a motor. Dieselmotor is perfect, I never said
anything different to my Savage motor. If it's an electric motor, we say
that using a special term (Elektromotor). Hence the notion, that a motor
necessarily has an electric chord and a plug, sounds completely nuts to me.

"Engine" virtually doesn't exist in German. Of course there are terms
describing in general the propulsion method (e.g. "Antrieb", though with
bikes this may also mean "chain" or "belt" driven), but sometimes they lack
the "machine meaning" of engine.

I think, it's a matter of language and habits of using it, not a technical
necessity to draw the line just between "electric" and "internal
combustion".

Bob Myers:
Once again: Per current usage and etymology, all engines are motors.

I go with this.

Not all motors are engines.

But I don't quite understand this: "My shaver's engine is an electric
motor." That wrong? I can't quite think of a motor clearly not being an
engine, since a motor always drives some device, and this device has an
engine consisting of or including that motor. ;-)







Viele Grüße
Klaus