Originally defined as "civil" due to its separation from the military. In the past it denoted all types of engineering including electrical, mechanical, mining, etc. Today it includes bridges, canals, docks, foundations, harbors, off-shore construction, railways, river basin management, sewerage, soil mechanics, structural design, construction, traffic engineering, water supply, etc. The field so large that no engineer can easily specialize in more than two areas.

In other words, civil engineering deals with civilization building and maintenance.

They also like to drink beer, crack lewd jokes, and are generally above average in both looks and intelligence thus guaranteeing that they can attract members of the opposite sex and fill the world with more civil engineers.
Woman 1: Is that a civil engineer over there?
Woman 2: He is devastatingly handsome isn't he?
by drunken February 11, 2005
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An engineer is a person that considers why something works, and then practically applies their findings.

Civil Engineering defines the branch of engineering which deals with any kind of structure that you don't want to move, (mechanical engineers deal with things that move). The word civil states that this only includes non-military.

A civil engineer can be involved in anything from design to construction, repair or demolition.
Technicians go to college.

Civil engineers either have a degree in civil engineering or are full members (preferably chartered) of an internationally recognised civil engineering institute.

Civil Engineers learn to understand why things do or don't fail (fall down).

If you see something big and man made inclusive of earthworks, buildings, canals, bridges, roads, airports, railways etc etc etc it was most likely built under the control of (and probably designed by) a civil engineer.
by Aztod February 2, 2009
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builders of everyything big and useful, mostly dislexic, counts as far as 4 as bigger numbers can be ignored, drink a lot, responsible for the future of your roads, railyways, tunnels and bridges. There's something to think about when you travel outside.
engineer 1. This looks a bit iffy.
engineer 2. yeah, but nevermind it'll do.
engineer 1. you're right let's go for a pint.
engineer 2. good idea, just remember not to drive over this bridge.
by jason April 13, 2004
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a disease which may end up with your health, prevents one from sleeping, an infinite deadline, a little insect which crawls under your skull and eats the pigment of your hairs turning them into white hairs, a killer, a magnet to a screen, a nerdator, process which may cause ones eyesight to detiriorate and make one loose their memory, Studies which are urbanlly known to be read by very geeky people
Gik! Abdul man! your such a gik!!! always with civil engineering look at you wearing glasses and loosing your memory and all! Gik looking like steve urkel and all thats not swagger man!!! thats UNcool
by absfaboulous February 9, 2009
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The oldest engineering discipline (even though some like to claim it's mechanical because it encompasses military engineering) Lots of job opportunities, but business majors will criticize you for not picking a more lucrative discipline whereas other engineering disciplines will claim you chose the easiest engineering major 💀
Person 1: "Did you know that UPenn doesn't have a Civil Engineering program?"
Person 2: Really? That's crazy..
by Thatgirlinthepurplejacket March 3, 2024
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Someone who sucks at every other engineering, so they spend their life looking at parking lots and talking about cement. They are often mistaken for traffic cones. However they do like complaining about how hard their life is as an engineer. However, their course load is nothing like a true engineer. They are the bros of engineering.
Guy1: see him over there, hes a civil engineer. He does nothing all day but dreams of concrete.

Girl1: yeah he just mansplained what addition is to me. But then he did it wrong.
by urban_dick_69 March 28, 2024
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