steam engine

An engine that converts the heat energy of pressurized steam into mechanical energy, especially one in which steam drives a piston in a closed cylinder.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

steam′ en`gine

an engine worked by steam, typically one in which a sliding piston in a cylinder is moved by the expansive action of the steam generated in a boiler.

[1745–55]

steam engine

An engine in which the energy of hot steam is converted into mechanical power, especially an engine in which the steam expands in a closed cylinder and drives a piston.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

steam engine - external-combustion engine in which heat is used to raise steam which either turns a turbine or forces a piston to move up and down in a cylinder

boiler, steam boiler - sealed vessel where water is converted to steam

crosshead - metal block that connects to a piston; it slides on parallel guides and moves a connecting rod back and forth

external-combustion engine - a heat engine in which ignition occurs outside the chamber (cylinder or turbine) in which heat is converted to mechanical energy

steam chest - the chamber from which steam is distributed to a cylinder

steamship, steamer - a ship powered by one or more steam engines

steam locomotive - a locomotive powered by a steam engine

Translations

مُحَرِّك بُخاري

parní lokomotivaparní strojparostroj

damplokomotiv

Dampfmaschine Dampflokomotive

ατμομηχανή

höyrykonemäntähöyrykone

locomotive à vapeurmachine à vapeur

parni strojparostroj

gõzgépgõzmozdony

gufuvél

macchina a vapore

stoommachine

dampmaskin

máquina a vapor

parný stroj

ångmaskin

buharlı lokomotif

蒸汽机

steam engine

n (Rail) → locomotiva a vapore

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

steam

(stiːm) noun

1. a gas or vapour that rises from hot or boiling water or other liquid. Steam rose from the plate of soup / the wet earth in the hot sun; a cloud of steam; (also adjective) A sauna is a type of steam bath.

2. power or energy obtained from this. The machinery is driven by steam; Diesel fuel has replaced steam on the railways; (also adjective) steam power, steam engines.

verb

1. to give out steam. A kettle was steaming on the stove.

2. (of a ship, train etc) to move by means of steam. The ship steamed across the bay.

3. to cook by steam. The pudding should be steamed for four hours.

steam-

steam-driven / steam-powered machinery.

ˈsteamer noun

a steamboat or steamship.

ˈsteamy adjective

of, or full of, steam. the steamy atmosphere of the laundry.

ˈsteamboat, ˈsteamship nouns

a ship driven by steam.

steam engine

a moving engine for pulling a train, or a fixed engine, driven by steam.

steam roller

a type of vehicle driven by steam, with wide and heavy wheels for flattening the surface of newly-made roads etc.

full steam ahead

at the greatest speed possible.

get steamed up

to get very upset or angry.

get up steam

to build up energy ready for effort.

let off steam

1. to release steam into the air.

2. to release or get rid of excess energy, emotion etc. The children were letting off steam by running about in the playground.

run out of steam

to lose energy, or become exhausted.

steam up

to (cause to) become covered with steam. The windows steamed up / became steamed up.

under one's own steam

by one's own efforts, without help from others. John gave me a lift in his car, but Mary arrived under her own steam.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

I wished the beast would exhaust itself, and not be insensible to fatigue like a steam engine. But it was of no use.

View in context

Since then I have seen many horses much alarmed and restive at the sight or sound of a steam engine; but thanks to my good master's care, I am as fearless at railway stations as in my own stable.

View in context

I began to compare the things to human ma- chines, to ask myself for the first time in my life how an ironclad or a steam engine would seem to an intelligent lower animal.

View in context

I would be a better electrician with knowledge of steam engines. As an oiler in the great engine-room I was confident that few things concerning steam would escape me.

View in context

He wondered if ever he could get used to working in a place like this, where the air shook with deafening thunder, and whistles shrieked warnings on all sides of him at once; where miniature steam engines came rushing upon him, and sizzling, quivering, white-hot masses of metal sped past him, and explosions of fire and flaming sparks dazzled him and scorched his face.

View in context

What about the doughnut or the steam engine? Though an individual or small group of collaborators can be given credit for almost any invention, who is to say that that credit is well placed?

How Invention Begins: Echoes of Old Voices in the Rise of New Machines

It gets washed frequently." That's because the Cyclone is a Rankine-cycle engine, which means it is related to a steam engine, and uses a continuous cycle of liquid vaporization and condensation in a sealed container to create power.

A steamed-cleaned engine: Leave it to a Florida-based marine designer to develop a water-lubricated Rankine-cycle, closed-loop steam engine that runs on almost any fuel

In the 16th century, James Watts, an engineer and inventor who helped develop the steam engine, observed that a horse could move 14,850 kg (33,000 lbs) of matter 30,5 centimeters (one foot) in one minute.

Explain this!

* In high schools they teach the history of the Industrial Revolution--the invention of the steam engine, the Spinning Jenny, water-powered looms, and so forth.

Bringing you the news for 50 years

The complete set includes The Computer: Passport To The Digital Age (032396492), The Printing Press: An Information Revolution (023564884), The Radio: The World Tunes In (082396-4914), The Steam Engine: Fueling The Industrial Revolution (0823964906), The Telescope: Looking Into Space (082396-4892), and The Television: Window To The World (023964930.

PowerKids Press

James Watt's name has become well known as the inventor of the light bulb; but it was the steam engine which also earned him fame--and which did not come about due to his single-handed genius.

Watt's Perfect Engine

"The information is now at the point at which the Industrial Revolution was in the early 1820s, about forty years after James Watt's improved steam engine (first installed in 1776) was first applied, in 1785, to an industrial operation--the spinning of cotton.

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