| 释义 |
▪ I. steam, n.|stiːm|
Forms: 1 stéam, stém, stíem, 4 stem, 4–5 steme, 5–7 steeme, 5–8 steem, 6–7 steame, 7– steam.
[OE. stéam = WFris. steam, Du. stoom:—OTeut. type *staumo-z, of obscure origin.]
I.
1. a. A vapour or fume given out by a substance when heated or burned.
In this and following senses the word was freq. used in the pl. down to c 1800.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 284 Man pintreow bærne to gledum..and onfo ðam steme. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys.-Mech. xi. 80 The stifling steams of the Coals. 1668Culpeper & Cole Barthol. Anat. ii. ix. 119 The steam of newly whited Walls. 1669Beale in Phil. Trans. IV. 1113 The steams of the Mercury in some hot Summer. 1704F. Fuller Med. Gymn. (1705) 165 The Steam of their inflammable Parts is of Use. 1794McPhail Treat. Cucumber 92 The heat of the cucumber bed began to rise; a little air was given to it to let the steam pass off. 1845G. Mills Treat. Cucumber (ed. 2) 29 The steam which arose from the well⁓prepared manure of the bed. 1859Tennyson Enid 1451 And all the hall was dim with steam of flesh.
b. spec. An odorous exhalation or fume.
a1000Panther 45 (Gr.) æfter þære stefne stenc ut cymeð of þam wongstede, wynsumra steam swettra & swiþra swæcca ᵹehwylcum. 1589Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 87 Thy breath is like the steeme of apple pies. 1608Middleton Five Gallants iv. viii, A fellow of several scents and steams. 1616B. Jonson Devil an Ass v. vii, Fough ! what a steeme of brimstone Is here? 1644Jessop Angel of Ephesus 27, I will not cause the Reader to stop his nose at those putrid steemes which would arise if that puddle were stirred. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 442 His Offring soon propitious Fire from Heav'n Consum'd with nimble glance, and grateful steame. 1781Cowper Conversat. 262 [Tobacco] Thy thirst-creating steams. 1827T. Hamilton Cyril Thornton (1845) 75 The savoury steams of roast and stew,..pervaded the mansion. 1835Willis Pencillings I. 61 The steams of sulphur, as we approached the summit, were all but intolerable.
fig.1599B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. i. iii, I do neither see, nor feele, nor taste, nor savour the least steame, or fume of a reason, that should invite this foolish fastidious Nymph, so peevishly to abandon me.
†2.
a. A vapour or exhalation produced as an ‘excrement’ of the body, e.g. hot breath, perspiration, the infectious effluvium of a disease. Obs.
c1000ælfric Hom. I. 86 Him stod stincende steam of ðam muðe. 1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 2526 Þe steme stode oute of hys mouþ brennand. c1330― Chron. Wace (Rolls) 1818 Oft aboute ilk oþer þrew, þe stem stod vp, so þey blew. c1400Song Roland 836 Kene knyghtis cry and crossen helmes,..out flow the stemes. 1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 63 Panting he lies, and breatheth in her face. She feedeth on the steame, as on a pray. 1670Covel in Early Voy. Levant (Hakl. Soc.) 116 These [insects] never stir out of their holes and lurking-places till the steam and perspiration of your bodyes invite them. 1722De Foe Plague (1884) 160 The Effluvia or Infectious Steams of Bodies infected. 1731Swift Strephon & Chloe 11 No humours gross, or frowzy steams,..Could from her taintless body flow.
†b. A noxious vapour generated in the digestive system; the ‘fume’ supposed to ascend to the brain as a result of drinking alcoholic liquor. Obs.
c1000Sax. Leechd. II. 226 Fleo þa mettas þa þe him dylsta & forbærnunga & stiem on Innan wyrcen. 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. v. iii, Pieros lips reake steame of wine. 1605Trag. End Sir J. Fites (1860) 12 She avoyded further perill of death, which hee in his steame of wine, had bin likely to have offered unto her.
c. Close and hot air arising from persons crowded together. arch.
1609Holland Amm. Marcell. xxix. ii. 352 When as neither the common goales..nor privat mens houses could now hold the number of them that were committed to ward, as being thronged and thrust close together with a hot steame among them. 1625Bacon Ess., Masques, Some Sweet Odours, suddenly comming forth, without any drops falling, are, in such a Company, as there is Steame and Heate, Things of great Pleasure and Refreshment. 1793T. Beddoes Observ. Calculus, etc. 141 The steams abounding in [a crowded] room..may be injurious to consumptive persons. 1850Tennyson In Mem. lxxxix. 8 The dust and din and steam of town.
†d. fig. Obs.
1602Marston Antonio's Rev. iii. v, Looke how I smoake in blood, reeking the steame Of foming vengeance. 1672Owen Disc. Evang. Love i. 19 For the most part they [the outcries on account of schism] are nothing but the steam of Interest and Party. 1677Gilpin Dæmonol. (1867) 46 Sometimes he reaps a large harvest where he had sown little, and from one temptation not only wounds the soul of him that committed it, but endeavours to diffuse the venom and poisonous steam of it to the infection of others.
†3. A ray or beam of light; a flame. Obs.
c1300Havelok 591 Of hise mouth it stod a stem, Als it were a sunnebem. c1440Promp. Parv. 473/2 Steem, or lowe of fyre, flamma.
4. An exhalation or watery vapour rising from the earth or sea.
1612Drayton Poly-olb. vii. 104 It is your foggie steame The powerfull Sunne exhales. 1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth (1702) 209 The Steams and Damps of Mines are detrimental to Health. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. v. 183 The equability and duration of the tropical heat contribute to impregnate the air with a multitude of steams and vapours from the soil and water. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) I. 371 The assemblage of the rays darting upon the water..will cause it to rise in a light thin steam above the surface. 1859Tennyson Guinevere 593 She saw, Wet with the mists and smitten by the lights, The Dragon of the great Pendragonship Blaze, making all the night a steam of fire. 1906‘Baroness Orczy’ Son of People xvi. (1908) 175 [The sun's] noonday rays drew a warm steam from the wet earth.
†5. Used as a scientific term for: Matter in the state of gas or vapour; any impalpable emanation or effluvium. Obs.
1662Boyle Def. Doctr. Spring of Air iii. xviii. 81 Glass..is impervious to the subtilest steams that are. 1670Beale in Phil. Trans. V. 1154 The changes of Heat and Cold, with other unknown Steames. 1684R. Waller Nat. Exper. 18 The Liquor..will fall down..like Dew separated from that fine steame of Air contained in the froth. a1704Locke Elem. Nat. Phil. vi. (1754) 21 Besides the springy particles of pure air, the atmosphere is made up of several steams or minute particles of several sorts, rising from the earth and the waters, and floating in the air.
6. a. The vapour into which water is converted when heated. In popular language, applied to the visible vapour which floats in the air in the form of a white cloud or mist, and which consists of minute globules or vesicles of liquid water suspended in a mixture of gaseous water and air. (Also sometimes applied to the vapour arising from other liquids when heated.) In modern scientific and technical language, applied only to water in the form of an invisible gas.
The invisible ‘steam’, in the modern scientific sense, is, when its temperature is lowered, converted into the white vapour called ‘steam’ in popular language, and this under continued cooling, becomes ‘water’ in the liquid form.
dry steam, in Steam-engine working, steam containing no suspended vesicles of water: opposed to wet steam.
c1440Promp. Parv. 473/2 Steem [Winch. MS. Steme] of hothe lycure, vapor. 1631B. Jonson New Inn ii. vi, We shall..send you downe to the dresser, and the dishes... Pru. Commit you to the steem! Lad. [Lady F.] Or els condemn you to the bottles. a1682Sir T. Browne Tracts (1683) 113 The steam or vapour of artificial and natural baths. 1697W. Dampier Voy. I. 480 They cover the mouth of the Pot with leaves, to keep in the steam, while it boils. 1712Addison Spect. No. 403 ⁋3 A Knot of Theorists, who sat in the inner Room, within the Steams of the Coffee-Pot. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xviii. II. 85 The adulteress was suffocated by the steam of a bath, which, for that purpose, had been heated to an extraordinary degree. 1785Priestley in Phil. Trans. LXXV. 305 Having transmitted steam, or the vapour of water, through a copper tube. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 505 The steam of alcohol at 174° is equal to that of water at 212°. 1839Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. II. 287, 7 lbs. of coal are required to convert 1 cubic foot of water at 40° into atmospheric steam. 1847Tennyson Princess Prol. 73 A dozen angry models jetted steam. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 39 The steam, or watery vapour, when pure and uncondensed, is..transparent. 1884Dutton in 4th Ann. Rep. U.S. Geol. Surv. 110 Condensed steam floating away in the form of white vapor. 1894Times 15 Aug. 12/2 A boiler which supplies wet steam is a bad boiler, because wet steam is prejudicial to the efficiency of the engine. 1895Model Steam Eng. 51 The purpose of the steam-dome is to collect the steam in as dry a condition as possible.
b. The visible vesicles produced by the condensation of watery vapour, as drops forming on a surface, e.g. a mirror or window-pane.
1615Crooke Body of Man 88 When a Vessell of boyling water is couered, though the couer be hot, yet the vapour of the water turneth into a steame vppon it, and will stand in drops. 1699tr. H. de Blancourt's Art of Glass 350 You must keep these [steel] Mirrours from the Moistness of the Air, and Steams.
7. a. The vapour of boiling water used, by confinement in specially contrived engines, for the generation of mechanical power. Hence, the mechanical power thus generated.
1699Phil. Trans. XXI. 228 [Savery's ‘fire-engine’.] Two Cocks which convey the Steam by turns, to the Vessels D. 1765Watt in Muirhead Invent. Watt (1854) I. 3 Mine ought to raise water to 44 feet with the same quantity of steam that theirs does to 32. 1788J. Rumsey (title) A short Treatise on Steam, whereby is clearly shewn..that steam may be applied to propel Boats or Vessels of any burthen. 1825Hone Every-day Bk. I. 1535 The Times..of Tuesday, November the 29th, 1814, was the first newspaper printed by steam. 1848Dickens Dombey xxxv, Do steam, tide, wind, and horses, all abate their speed? 1872Buckle Misc. Wks. I. 250 By the application of steam, we have diminished space.
b. fig. Energy, ‘go’, driving power, and the like.
1826Disraeli Viv. Grey ii. ii, Has not your Lordship treasure? There is your moral steam which can work the world. 1875Blake-Humfrey Eton Boating Bk. 60 The Etonians had not steam enough. At Hammersmith, Westminster was two lengths ahead. 1898Daily News 24 Nov. 7/3 Corbett now appeared a trifle weary..and was lacking in steam. 1900Westm. Gaz. 23 Oct. 9/2 All the steam has gone out of American Railroad shares.
c. Phr. by steam, (to travel) by steamer. under steam, worked by steam (as opposed to under sail).
1829Scott Jrnl. (1890) II. 305 To-morrow I expect Sophia and her family by steam. 1839Card. Wiseman in W. Ward Life (1897) I. ix. 313, I shall travel..by the mail direct to Marseilles,..and so by steam to Cività Vecchia. 1875Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. iii. (ed. 2) 61 In the following Rules every steam ship which is under sail and not under steam, is to be considered a sailing ship.
d. In phrases descriptive of the working of a steam-engine, esp. of a locomotive; often used fig.; e.g. (at) full (half, etc.) steam; with full or all one's steam on; to have (all, much, etc.) steam on; to get up steam, put on steam; to blow off steam, shut off steam, turn off steam; under steam, with steam up, in steam, with the engine working or ready to start working; under one's own steam; like steam (Austral.), furiously; to let off steam: freq. fig., to relieve one's pent-up energy by vigorous activity; to give vent to one's feelings, esp. harmlessly; to run out of steam: see run v. 66 c.
1768Watt in Muirhead Invent. Watt (1854) I. 18, I am now getting an apparatus ready for setting it [the engine] wholly in steam as before. 1824[see shut v. 16 a]. 1831Rep. Sel. Comm. Steam Carriages 20 Are you frequently obliged to let off steam? 1832–83[see get v. 80 q]. 1837[see blow v.1 10]. 1837Dickens Pickw. xlviii, Get on a little faster; put a little more steam on, ma'am, pray. 1857Hughes Tom Brown ii. ii, Now jumping the old ironbound tables,..then joining in some chorus of merry voices; in fact, blowing off his steam, as we should now call it. 1860Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 216 Orders were given..to let the ship go under easy steam. 1863Blackw. Mag. Feb. 249/1 This is a free country, and a few eloquent or blustering Radicals serve to ‘let off the steam’ of their class. 1869H. James Let. 16 Apr. in J. Strouse Alice James (1980) viii. 138, I feel an irresistible need to let off steam periodically & to confide to a sympathetic ear the impressions which the week has generated in my soul. 1870Remin. Amer. 203 Their steam fire-engines..are always kept in readiness with steam up and the horses harnessed. 1873Routledge's Young Gentlem. Mag. June 392/2 The Forward was under steam, ready to seize the first opening to make her exit. 1878Kingston Three Admirals xviii. 416 Full steam was put on. Ibid. 417 The engineer having thoughtfully turned off the steam to prevent the boilers from exploding. 1881M. Reynolds Engine-driving Life 112 Of course his engine is in steam. All is done for him. 1887F. Francis Jun. Saddle & Mocassin 107 ‘And he [the bull] came for you?’ ‘When he'd got up steam he did.’ 1894Sir J. D. Astley 50 Years Life I. 82, I naturally went to grass through having too much steam on to be able to pull up in time. 1896Kipling Seven Seas, Three Sealers ad fin., Half-steam ahead by guess and lead, for the sun is mostly veiled. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 147 A result of some previous shutting off of nervous steam. 1905H. Lawson Coll. Verse (1968) II. 4 We was draftin' 'em out for the homeward track and sharin' 'em round like steam. 1912Conrad in English Rev. XI. 311 We are not allowed to bring them in under their own steam. 1916H. J. Laski in Holmes-Laski Lett. (1953) I. 25, I intend to write you a weekly letter to Washington—for I must let off steam somewhere. 1949J. Symons Bland Beginnings 142 ‘Would you be kind enough to..see Miss Cleverly home.’ ‘That's not necessary... I can move under my own steam.’ 1976J. I. M. Stewart Young Pattullo iii. 72 It's just a dining club letting off steam. 1979B. Hardy World owes Me Nothing 102, I hammered at the door like steam and over he came and opened it.
e. transf. Cheap wine laced with methylated spirits; methylated spirits as an intoxicant. Austral. and N.Z. slang.
1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 71 Steam, cheap wine, esp. laced with methylated spirits. 1963A. Lubbock Austral. Roundabout 59 To my regret, I never got a chance to sample either ‘plonk’, or ‘steam’! 1966J. K. Baxter Pig Island Lett. 36 I'd give old Rose the go-by For a bottle of steam tonight.
8. a. Short for steam-coal (see 17).
1897Daily News 25 Jan. 9/3 Best qualities steam are now up to 11s 3d per ton. 1903Times 1 Dec. 3/5 Steams remain dull and generally slow of sale, owing to the poor trade prevailing among steam users generally.
b. Short for steam radio, sense 17 below.
1959C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 112, I heard one of your arias on the steam, last evening. 1960Spectator 15 July 103 John Arlott over on steam is still the best of the commentators. 1973G. Talbot Ten Seconds from Now (1974) v. 83 Frank Gillard..crowned his Corporation career by becoming Managing Director of Radio, our ‘Head of Steam’.
9. [f. steam v.] A trip by steamer. colloq.
1854Kingsley in Life (1877) I. 419 Had a charming steam across the Firth of Forth. 1905Daily Chron. 16 Sept. 4/4 He saw before him a few hours' steam to Caen.
10. [f. steam v.] A dish cooked by steaming. colloq.
1900Soc. Life Brit. Army 98 Apart from soup, the cooking arrangements will only allow of Tommy being given his choice between a bake and a steam. A steam resembles what we have been taught to call Irish stew.
II. attrib. and Comb.
11. simple attrib. = of or pertaining to steam; consisting of steam.
1831Rep. Sel. Comm. Steam Carriages 25 The comparative expense between Horse and Steam Power for drawing Carriages on common roads. 1838Tredgold Steam Eng. 416 The force of the draught produced by the steam-blast is so great that cinders are drawn through the tubes. 1869E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 145 The moving agent here is the force of the steam-jet. 1879Geo. Eliot Theo. Such ii. 49 The white steam-pennon flies along it. 1881Judd Volcanoes 23 The roaring of the steam-jets may be heard for many miles around. 1897Geikie Anc. Volcanoes Gt. Brit. I. 16 The steam-cavities of lavas.
12. With reference to heating, cooking, or washing by steam, and in the names of implements and apparatus used in these processes, as steam-bakery, steam-bath, steam-box, steam-chamber, steam-chest, steam-coil, steam-kiln, steam-kitchen, steam-laundry, steam-oven, steam-pan, steam-pipe, † steam-pot, steam radiator, steam-table, steam-tank, steam-tube, etc.
1725Bradley's Family Dict. s.v. Gooseberry-wine, When it is thoroughly cold it is put into a Steam-Pot. 1794J. B. S. Morritt Let. 24 June (1914) ii. 47 After a violent steam bath, they would run out and roll in the snow. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 772/2 Steam-Kitchen. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. iv. (1842) 134 The figure represents an arrangement in which a saucepan is converted into a temporary steam chamber. 1828Duppa Trav. Italy, etc. 142 The steam-baths of Dædalus..consist of several sudorific grottos. 1832Boston (Lincs.) Herald 20 Nov. 4/3 A new patent steam-oven for baking bread. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxxi. 421 We have passed wooden steam-tubes through the deck-house to carry off the vapors of our cooking-stove. 1857Miller Elem. Chem., Org. 672 Heat, furnished by steam-pipes. 1862Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. xxxi. 7 Steam Table for dishing up. Ibid. 8 Steam Kettles of copper or block tin, for boiling meat, vegetables, puddings, &c. 1868Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 427 The food is cooked in a large steam-box. 1879Bradstreet's 22 Nov. 2/1 In close rooms close stoves are better than steam radiators. 1897Howells Landlord at Lion's Head 142 The reeking steam-table, with its great tanks of soup and vegetables. 1903Ade In Babel 29 For ten years it had braced itself against the onsweeping rush of big machine-shops and steam-bakeries. 1962A. Lurie Love & Friendship xii. 228 That..asthma kind of like a steam radiator. 1977C. McCullough Thorn Birds xi. 251 Hot nights in Gilly were bearable compared to this steam bath.
13. In the names of the various contrivances for containing, conveying, or regulating the steam in a steam-engine, as steam-box, steam-case, steam-chamber, steam-chest, steam-cock, † steam-course, steam-cylinder, steam-dome, steam-gauge, steam-pipe, steam-port, steam-stack, steam trap, steam-valve, steam-way, etc.
1765Watt in Muirhead Invent. Watt (1854) I. 4 The moment the steam-cock was opened, the piston descended with rapidity. 1769Ibid. 53 To-day I stopped the neck of the steam-pipe where it enters the cylinder. Ibid. 73 The size of the steam-valve is six square inches. 1797J. Curr Coal Viewer 41 A steam chest [in a fire-engine] upon a good construction, (a) being the steam valve. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 181 C, the steam-gauge. Ibid. 207 Fans..opening and closing the steam-course. 1838Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 139/2 The jacket of an 80-inch steam cylinder. 1839R. S. Robinson Naut. Steam Eng. 51 Sliding the valve up or down will permit this steam to enter the cylinder, either by the upper or lower steam port. 1873G. E. Webster Steam Eng. & Steam i. 61 The Steam Dome serves the purpose of drying the steam. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Steam-way, a passage leading from the steam-port of a valve to the cylinder. 1877Steam trap [see trap n.1 8 b]. 1935Joyce Let. 28 Aug. (1957) 381, I would also like a pleasure yacht with a steamstack. 1955Times 12 July 1/6 Before ordering any steam trap ask for its expectation of life. It is no use saving on steam equipment to pay it out later servicing traps.
14. In the names of implements, machines, processes, etc. operated by steam or by a steam-engine, as steam-crane, steam dredge, steam dredger, steam drill, steam-dryer, steam elevator, † steam-gun, steam-hammer, steam-mill, steam-milling, steam-plough, steam-ploughing, steam press, steam-pump, steam shovel (hence steam-shovelful), steam-thresher, steam-threshing, steam trowel, steam-trumpet, steam-whim, steam-winch, etc.
1801Phil. Trans. XCI. 160 It..has now four fire-engines and two steam-whims on it. 1804Nicholson's Jrnl. VII. 161 Description of a new Steam Digester for Philosophic Researches. 1812Ann. Reg., Chron. 79 They entered into a solemn obligation to destroy steam-looms, [etc.]. 1815D. Drake Nat. & Statist. View Cincinnati iii. 137 The most capacious..building in this place is the Steam Mill. 1824Reg. Arts & Sci. II. 105 Perkins's ‘Steam Gun’. 1843Nasmyth in Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. VI. 41/2 With a view to relieve all these defects, I have contrived my direct action steam hammer. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xi, A greater number..than the steam-gun can discharge balls in a minute. 1847Mech. Mag. 30 Jan. 98 Mr. Osborn's patent system of steam ploughing. 1861Mitchell's Maritime Reg. 1651/3 The launch of the Ancona, a very fine steam dredger, of 300 tons, recently took place at Southampton. 1865Ruskin Sesame i. 35 The Word of God..cannot be..sown on any wayside by help either of steam plough or steam press. 1873H. James Let. 25 Apr. (1974) I. v. 373 It was once a goodly old palace and though pitifully inconvenient as a hotel, is charminger to stay in than if it had a steam elevator. 1877Encycl. Brit. VII. 464/1 The construction of large river steam dredges is now carried on by many engineering firms. 1879R. J. Burdette Hawk-Eyes 25 The depot policeman looked in to say to him that if he was tired out, he would send in a section hand or the steam shovel to give him a spell. 1880Harper's Mag. Aug. 344/2 The grist from it [sc. the tide mill] is said to be of a better quality than from the steam-mills, as being less heated in the process. 1884Leisure Hour Sept. 533/2 With one blow from a steam-riveter..they are securely fixed. 1889‘F. Anstey’ Pariah vi. i, They're putting up swings and a steam-circus and tents. 1891Hardy Tess xlviii, I have told the farmer that he has no right to employ women at steam-threshing. 1891Argus (Melbourne) 7 Nov. 13/4 Occasionally..a British India liner rouses the echoes with the hoarse call of its steam siren. 1898‘Merriman’ Roden's Corner v. 45 Presently the jerk and clink of the steam-winch told that the anchor was being got home. 1904Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engin. XXXIII. 965 Steam-dryers are fitted in the flues of two of the boilers. 1906T. Roosevelt Let. 20 Nov. (1919) 182 There the huge steam-shovels are hard at it; scooping huge masses of rock and gravel and dirt. 1906W. De Morgan Joseph Vance xli. 367 He told how she and he were awakened by the sudden stoppage of the screw, followed by the roar of the steam-trumpet. 1907J. H. Patterson Man-Eaters of Tsavo xvii. 187 My heart was thumping like a steam hammer. 1925L. R. Harris in Messenger VII. 387/1 A so-called ‘steam-drill’..guaranteed to drill a hole faster than any ten men could drill one in the old way with sledge hammer and steel. 1928Observer 15 Apr. 5/4 The people in the restaurants shovel food into their mouths as the steam-trowel takes up its load of earth. 1937Discovery Dec. 362/2 All advances in technique such as the steam press and the linotype, had been developed by the news-printer and later used by the book-printer. 1966T. Pynchon Crying of Lot 49 iii. 65 A wildcat transistor outfit that..was underselling even the Japanese and hauling in loot by the steamshovelful. 1972J. Mosedale Football vii. 95 After a trip through the steam presses, caps and uniforms were either too large or too small. 1978J. Irving World according to Garp iv. 79 His mouth still reminded Garp of a steam shovel's power.
15. With reference to locomotion by steam-power, and in names of vehicles and vessels propelled by steam, as steam barge, steam bus, steam-ferry, steam ferry-boat, steam-flat, steam-frigate, steam hopper (hopper1 6), steam-launch, steam lawn-mower, steam locomotion, steam locomotive, steam lorry, steam-navigation, steam-navy, steam-omnibus, steam-packet, steam railway, steam-ram, steam schooner, steam-train, steam-tram, steam-trawler, steam-trawling, steam-whaler, steam-yacht, etc. See also steam-car, -carriage, -tug, etc. in 17, and the main-words steam-boat, etc.
1812in Mech. Mag. (1847) XLVI. 21/1 Steam passage boat, The Comet, Between Glasgow, Greenock, and Helensburgh. 1814Niles' Wkly. Reg. 128/2 The steam frigate Fulton the First was launched at New York October 31. 1819[title] The Thanet Itinerary, or Steam-Yacht Companion. 1819N.Y. Even. Post 4 Jan. 2/5 Steam sch[oone]r Ramapo, Reid, New Orleans. 1821Croker Diary 29 Aug., Sailed in the steampacket, the wind quite against us. 1831Jrnls. Ho. Comm. LXXXVI. 827/2 The frequent calamities by Steam Navigation. 1834J. B. Purcell Jrnl. 21 Mar. in Catholic Hist. Rev. (1919) V. 253 Mr. Mtgomery an hour & ½ in crossing the River in Steam-ferry boat. 1842J. McDonough Papers (1898) 65 The steam ferry which runs from one side of the river to the other lands a short distance below my house. 1849[Emily C. Agnew] Rome & the Abbey v. 47 They entered the steam-train for Bruges. 1849Jrnls. Ho. Comm. CIV. 87/2 The practicability of providing, by means of the Commerical Steam Marine of the Country, a reserve Steam Navy, available for the National Defence when required. 1860Ann. Reg. 202 Our government were urged to adopt the scheme of steam-rams. 1866Mitchell's Maritime Reg. 18 Aug. 1033/3 Messrs. C. and W. Earle launched from their yard a steam barge [named Lion] the first of its class built in Hull. 1869Bradshaw's Railway Man. XXI. 34 A steam ferry across the river Severn. 1872F. Trevithick Life Richard Trevithick II. xxi. 207 Cast-iron wheels were ordered with a view to steam locomotion in the Cordilleras. Ibid. xvii. 26 The high-pressure steam-puffer..moved.. towards the broken mass..and..changing its powers from steam-crane to steam-locomotive, conveyed it to the port. 1877Encycl. Brit. VII. 464/2 The steam hoppers employed to receive and remove the dredgings carry about 500 tons of excavations. 1878C. Schreiber Jrnl. 30 June (1911) II. 155 The Embassy steam launch met us. 1879Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9) IX. 250/2 Steam trawling. 1884J. Hatton in Harper's Mag. Feb. 344/2 The steam-launch is the snob of the Thames. 1890G. Meredith Let. 14 Apr. (1970) II. 997, I am promised a steam-yacht to take me up at Oban. 1902H. C. Moore Omnibuses & Cabs i. iv. 38 The first real steam omnibuses, the ‘Era’ and ‘Autopsy’, were invented by Walter Hancock, of Stratford, and placed on the London roads in 1833. 1892Speaker 3 Sept. 289/2 The high road, with its shrieking steam-tram. 1915Naut. Gaz. 31 Mar. 4/1 The Panama Canal has brought us the steam schooner and other Pacific curiosities. 1916Law Rep. I King's Bench 148 The defendants, who were brewers, used a Steam lorry weighing five tons, for the purpose of delivering beer from their premises to various public-houses served by them. 1923Blackw. Mag. Nov. 681/1 In the harbour..there were lying odd craft... The one romance of life for these steam-hoppers..had been quenched. 1928J. Mason Before Mast in Sailing Ships 174 He was picked up by a steam barge which happened to be passing. 1933V. Sommerfield London's Buses 5 (caption) Three of Hancock's Steam Buses, 1832 to 1836. 1946G. Foreman Last Trek of Indians 116 A steam ferryboat was in service. 1946Noble & Junner Vital to Life of Nation vi. 88 Sumner..began experimenting in the design of a steam wagon in 1889, a year or two later producing a steam lawn mower. Ibid. 96 (caption) A London steam omnibus of 1902. 1958Listener 11 Sept. 379/2 He was knocked down and killed by a steam lorry. 1965D. Arundell Sadler's Wells xi. 144 Mrs. Warner and Phelps were shown arriving..in a first-class steam-railway carriage. 1970F. McKenna Gloss. Railwaymen's Talk 1 Most steam locomotive depots in England are embedded in the older parts of our towns and cities. 1971Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 6 Nov. 86/3 The purpose of the California steam-bus project is to demostrate how effectively city buses can operate at low levels of exhaust emission. 1977D. Jack Leyland Bus i. 11 The back-bone of the business was production of steam lawn-mowers selling with 30-inch roller at {pstlg}85 each. 1977H. Fast Immigrants i. 72, I got two steam schooners, wooden ships, six hundred tons each. 1980Times 25 June 4/2 The inaugural voyage of the National Trust's restored 1859 steam yacht the Gondola took place on Coniston Water yesterday.
16. Instrumental, with ppl. adjs., as steam-bent, steam-driven, steam-going, steam-hauled, steam-heated, steam-operated, steam-ridden (fig.), steam-set, steam-wrought; steam-like adj. Also with vbl. ns., as steam-bending, steam cleaning, steam-heating; and vbs., as steam-bend, steam-clean (trans.).
1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 381 Attendants on steam-going looms. 1845S. Judd Margaret i. xvii, A steam-like vapour arose from the frozen river. 1852C. W. Hoskyns Talpa 183 A steam-driven cultivator can be brought to bear. 1868Joynson Metals 54 A steam-wrought hammer. a1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 861/1 In Campbell & Pryor's method of steam heating for dwellings, the steam boiler and radiators are inclosed in a heating room in the cellar. 1885G. Allen Babylon xiii, This steam-ridden nineteenth century. 1890Harper's Mag. Sept. 576/1 The Kents lived in a steam-heated flat. 1901Scotsman 4 Sept. 7/8 Instead of a steam-driven train every two hours they might have an electrically-driven train every half-hour. 1917S. Graham Priest of Ideal iv. 53 This mansion, with its good roof and closed windows and doors, and probably steam-heating to keep out the damp. 1934Discovery Nov. 314/1 In 1934 the German railways made some striking accelerations in the schedules of their steam-hauled expresses. 1936Ibid. Nov. 357/1 Accelerations of steam-operated trains in Great Britain continues. 1946Nature 5 Oct. 474/1 This at once prompted Rudall to examine the effect of 50 per cent urea on steam-set β-keratin. 1949Sun (Baltimore) 14 Dec. 5/2 Already, automobile ‘laundries’ and firms that steam-clean buildings have been told to cease operation. 1956Handbk. Hardwoods (Forest Prod. Res. Lab.) 2 Classification of timbers according to their steam-bending properties is..based mainly on the minimum bending radius of sound, clear specimens 1 in. thick at a moisture content of about 25 per cent. 1956Amer. Speech XXXI. 86 Advertisement of Adelaide Steam Cleaning Service. 1962J. T. Marsh Self-Smoothing Fabrics ix. 122 It is not necessary to employ a special chamber for curing, but only the usual steam-heated cylinders or a stenter. Ibid. ii. 9 The steam-set fabric has a pleasant handle, and good crease recovery. 1966A. W. Lewis Gloss. Woodworking Terms 106 Oak, Japanese..easier to work than European oak. Steam-bends excellently. 1973Times 4 Oct. 24/5 The chair is demountable and consists of eight wooden staves..steam-bent into a soft, flowing outline. 1977Modern Railways Dec. 493/3 Steam-hauled excursions would be operated over this short length. 1978Detroit Free Press 2 Apr. 2f/4 The natives claim ‘the diggers’, which is even more impolite than calling them Aussies, come to this spectacular thermal display to get their suits steam-cleaned for free.
b. Objective, as steam-raising.
1923Engineering 26 Jan. 101/2 The boilers, furnaces..economisers, coal bunkers and other details of the steam-raising equipment are carried by the steel framework of the building. 1979Improved Energy Efficiency (Shell Internat. Petroleum Co.) 5 Substantial savings are possible in steam-raising.
17. Special comb.: steam age, the era when trains were drawn by steam locomotives; also, attrib. or as adj., belonging to this era; fig. out-of-date; steam beer, a Californian effervescent beer; steam-boiler, a vessel in which water is heated to generate steam, esp. for working a steam-engine (boiler n. 2 b); steam-bomb = candle-bomb (candle n. 7); steam calliope U.S. = steam organ; steam-car, a car driven or drawn by steam, e.g. a motor-car worked by steam instead of petrol; U.S. a railway-carriage; † steam-carriage, a carriage driven or drawn by steam (a) on a railroad or tramway, (b) on common roads; † steam-chaise, a chaise driven by steam; † steam-coach = steam-carriage; steam-coal, coal suitable for heating water in steam-boilers; steam-colour Calico-printing, a colour developed and fixed in the cloth by steaming; steam cracking, the thermal cracking of petroleum using steam as an inert diluent which reduces polymerization and increases the yield of olefins; hence steam-cracked a.; steam cracker, an installation for this process; steam curing, the curing or hardening of a material by treatment with steam; hence steam-cure v. trans.; steam-cured ppl. a.; steam distillation Physical Chem., distillation of a liquid in a current of steam, used esp. to purify at temperatures below their normal boiling points liquids that are not very volatile and are immiscible with water; hence (as a back-formation) steam-distil v. trans. and intr.; † steam-doctor, one who treats diseases by vapour-baths; steamfitter, one who installs the pipes of a steam-heating system; a steam-heating engineer; steam fly, the small brown cockroach, Blattella germanica, commonly found in kitchens and bathrooms; steam heat, heat produced by steam; now spec. (the heat produced by) a steam-generating central heating system, used in passenger trains and buildings; hence steam heater, steam heating; † steam-horse, a kind of traction-engine; steam-iron, an electric iron containing water which is heated and emitted as steam from its flat surface to assist in the pressing of clothes; steam-jacket, a jacket or casing filled with steam in order to preserve the heat of the vessel round which it is placed; hence steam-jacketed pa. pple. and adj., steam-jacketing vbl. n.; † steam-kettle, a kettle used in sick-rooms to create a moist warm atmosphere (obs.); steam line, a line in a phase diagram representing the conditions of temperature and pressure at which water and water vapour are in equilibrium in the absence of ice; steam-navvy, a machine for digging or excavating by steam; steam nigger U.S. the long cylinder with piston and rod by which the log is forced up to the saw in a sawing mill; steam-organ = calliope; steam point, (a) a temperature at which liquid water and water vapour are in equilibrium; spec. the boiling point of water under standard atmospheric pressure; (b) N. Amer., a metal pipe which is driven into frozen earth and down which steam can be passed in order to thaw the ground for mining; steam radio, colloq. name for sound radio, considered outmoded by television; hence, a radio receiver; steam-raiser, a person employed in an engine shed to light the fires of locomotives and raise steam; steam-road, a road prepared for steam-traction; U.S. a railroad; steam-room, (a) steam-space below; (b) U.S., a vapour bath; steam-space, the space above the water-level in a steam-boiler; steam table U.S., a table in a cafeteria, etc., slotted to hold containers of cooked food kept hot by steam circulating beneath them; steam-tight a., tight enough to resist the ingress or egress of steam; also quasi-adv.; steam-tug, a steam-boat specially constructed for towing vessels; † applied jocularly to a railway-engine; steam turbine: see turbine 1 b; † steam-wagon, a wagon drawn by steam on a railway or on a common road; † steam-wheel, the rotary steam-engine; also fig.
1941Auden New Year Letter iii. 66 The genius of the loud *Steam Age. 1961Spectator 4 Aug. 181 The jet-age author gets the same sort of romance out of beaten-up old Dakotas..as steam-age Robert Louis Stevenson did from a schooner. 1978W. Garner Möbius Trip (1979) i. i. 34 Suppose you're..a bullion dealer. You're not happy with your present security. It's a little bit steam age.
1898Western Brewer XXVIII. 278/1 *Steam beer..is bottom fermenting... The steam beer mash is made according to the English downward mashing method. 1941American Neptune Oct. 402 Claus Spreckels is the reputed inventor of the great San Francisco speciality, steam beer. 1959San Francisco Chron. 28 June 1 There won't be a drop of steam beer in Northern California after a few more days. 1974W. R. Hunt North of 53° xv. 102 Many saloons served the ‘choicest goods’ and steam beer at two bits a glass.
1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 66 *Steam-Boilers [for boiling meat]. 1815Ann. Reg., Chron. 91 A new steam boiler, worked by what is called a pressure engine. 1847Mech. Mag. 2 Jan. 23/2 Dr. Ritterbrandt's Process for Preventing the Incrustation of Steam-boilers.
1895Model Steam Eng. 14 Candle or *Steam Bombs.
1868Daily Territorial Enterprise (Virginia City, Nevada) 29 Aug. 3/1 Even a *steam calliope would not cause our firm nerves to tremble as vigorously as this worst of all combinations of unsweet tones. 1936J. Dos Passos Big Money 164 The clanking roar of the rollercoaster and the steam-calliope. 1976St. Louis Post-Dispatch 16 Sept. 1/2 A steam calliope is the ransom for the return of Nipper.
1833Amer. Rail Road Jrnl. II. 225/2 The *Steam Car accomplished the distance. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Steam-car, a car drawn by steam-power. 1877Rep. Sel. Comm. Tramways 105 Steam cars might be very safely used, perhaps in Whitechapel. 1886Winchell Geol. Talks 11 There, in the distance, flies the train of steam-cars. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. iv. lxxxi. III. 69 When you meet them in the steam cars (i.e. on a railway journey). 1900[see petrol 3]. 1903J. Fox Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come v. 65 ‘Steam cars!’ they cried. 1962E. Lucia Klondike Kate 7 They clambered aboard..the steam cars. 1969Listener 3 July 31/3 Mr Donald Healey, developer of Austin-Healey sports cars, is rumoured to be building..a 140 m.p.h. steam car... The current spate of steam-car development projects.
1788in Rep. U.S. Comm. Patents 1849 (1850) 581 If any person..shall make..any elevator, hopper-boy, or any *steam-carriage..without the consent of the said Oliver Evans. 1824T. G. Cumming (title) Illustrations of the origin and progress of Rail and Tram Roads, and Steam Carriages, or locomotive Engines. 1831Rep. Sel. Comm. Steam Carriages 17 Are you [Mr. G. Gurney] the proprietor of a Steam Carriage used on public roads? 1844Queen's Regul. Army 211 Officers thus circumstanced are likewise to proceed by Steam-Carriages upon Railroads.
1769Dr. Small in Muirhead Invent. Watt (1854) I. 52 A linen-draper at London, one Moore, has taken out a patent for moving wheel⁓carriages by steam... However, if you will come hither soon, I will..buy a *steam-chaise of you and not of Moore.
1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 661 A *steam-coach for the conveyance of passengers [on a railroad]. 1828Sporting Mag. XXI. 267, I hear it is intended in good earnest to start a steam-coach from London to Southampton. 1834L. Ritchie Wand. by Seine 177 We saw a steam-coach which had stopped at the door of the public house.
1850Ansted Elem. Geol., Min. etc. 414 There is a third..condition of coal now known as ‘*steam-coal’, and admirably adapted for the use of the steam-navy. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining 238 The finest steam coals of South Wales are moderately hard and almost smokeless.
1844E. A. Parnell's Appl. Chem. I. 368 *Steam colours.
1962Murphree & Ciprios in Mod. Petroleum Technol. (ed. 3) ix. 318 The octane number of this *steam-cracked naphtha ranges from about 80 to 100 research method (unleaded).
1968Economist 2 Nov. 73/1 When finished, the plant will include a new *steam cracker, with a production capacity of 340,000 tons a year of ethylene, 200,000 tons of propylene, [etc.].
1959Petroleum Times 25 Sept. 602/1 No. 3 olefine plant is..based on the *steam cracking process. 1962Murphree & Ciprios in Mod. Petroleum Technol. (ed. 3) ix. 318 Although the primary purpose of steam cracking is the production of light hydrocarbons, the process also produces material in the gasoline boiling range. 1977Shell in Base Chemicals (Shell Internat. Petroleum Co.) 4 Benzene, toluene and mixed xylenes coming from oil are extracted in special plants from reformate and pyrolysis gasoline, formed when lower olefins are manufactured by the steam-cracking of liquid feedstocks.
1910Cement Era VIII. 169/1 Blocks of 1 part cement to 8 parts sand and [sic] *steam cured at 80 pounds pressure showed a crusting strength of 2,100 pounds per square inch. 1962J. T. Marsh Self-Smoothing Fabrics xi. 177 It sometimes happens that, with cotton goods which have been steam-cured, the crease recovery is very slightly below that obtained in an atmosphere free from steam.
1909Chem. Abstr. III. 1210 *Steam-cured blocks may be made all winter. 1962J. T. Marsh Self-Smoothing Fabrics xi. 176 It was possible to show a linear relation between the improvement in resistance to abrasion of steam-cured fabrics over dry-cured fabrics and the amount of steam present.
1907Engin. News 5 Sept. 249/1 (heading) Effect of *steam curing on the crushing strength of concrete. 1921Hatt & Voss Concrete Work I. viii. 181 Steam curing is accomplished in curing tunnels with a roof of such a shape that it will drain the condensed moisture to the sides of the tunnel. 1967M. Chandler Ceramics in Mod. World iv. 128 The whole assembly is..put into a steam-curing cabinet.
1923W. M. Cumming et. al. Systematic Org. Chem. ii. 24 When the liquid to be *steam-distilled is lighter than water, the small glass tube E is extended to the bottom of the receiver. 1964Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. II. 152 The compound is reduced to trimethylamine with tiCl3, which is then steam-distilled into an excess of standardized acid. 1974Rosser & Williams Mod. Org. Chem. for ‘A’ Level xiii. 253 If care is not taken to dry organic liquids thoroughly, the water/liquid mixture will often steam-distil over at a temperature lower than the actual boiling point of the pure liquid.
1904Analyst XXIX. 385 (heading) Laboratory apparatus for *steam distillation. 1954Thorpe's Dict. Appl. Chem. (ed. 4) XI. 85/2 The chief advantage offered by steam distillation is that a substance of fairly low volatility can be separated from non-volatile impurities at a temperature much below its normal boiling-point. 1972P. R. S. Murray Princ. Org. Chem. ix. 58 Steam distillation is most effective when one of the components to be separated..has a high molecular weight.
1830Cincinnati Chron. 6 Feb. 2/3 The Mayor was induced..to issue his warrant for the apprehension of a black man calling himself Caesar Gimsoun, and practising in this city as a *steam doctor. 1855Dunglison Med. Lex., Steam-doctor, a term applied to one who treats all or most diseases by steam. 1860[see Thomsonian 1].
1906Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 12 Jan. 7/7 (Advt.), To plumbers, *steam fitters etc. We have just received two carloads of iron pipes in all sizes. 1977J. Crosby Company of Friends xvii. 114 They both laughed{ddd}talking about the problems of the trade like steamfitters discussing occupational hazards.
1933M. Lowry Ultramarine iv. 184 ‘You shuffle them—’ ‘—King of the *steam-flies, eh—’. 1944Jrnl. R. Army Med. Corps LXXXIII. 188 The steam fly or German cockroach. 1962New Scientist 11 Oct. 75/1 The German cockroach, commonly referred to as ‘the steam fly’, is dark brown to tan in colour and is also very widely distributed.
1822–7Good Study Med. (1829) II. 594 The extract of hemlock or of hyoscyamus, prepared in a *steam-heat. 1904Railway Mag. XIV. 169/2 Since the general introduction of steam-heat..it appears to be an easy matter for the guard to simply turn a valve to supply sufficient steam to heat the cars comfortably. 1941J. Masefield In Mill 36 The winter steam-heat made it impossible to wear a coat while at work. 1974Times 1 Apr. 14/5 Hugh Lawson, deputy city engineer of Nottingham, gave a speedy talk on his city's steam-heat system.
a1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 861/1 *Steam Heater,..a low pressure *steam-heating apparatus. 1967G. F. Fiennes I tried to run Railway ii. 7 The second [mistake was] to report myself for pulling off the steam-heater pipe.
1815Specif. De Baader's Patent No. 3959. 7 Those complicated..machines called locomotive engines or *steam horses. 1855Pract. Mechanics' Jrnl. Sept. 139 Mr. Boydell's ‘steam horse,’ or ‘traction engine,’ was put upon the brake in order to test its power.
1951Good Housek. Home Encycl. 154/2 Electronic *steam irons are now available, but..are not always so effective as they might appear. 1962Which? Sept. 270/1 If you want to avoid using a damp cloth or damping the clothes, then your choice may well be a steam iron. 1972Guardian 30 Aug. 9/5 The opening for filling steam irons with distilled water is usually mingy, and the thing overflows.
1838Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 139/2 The best engines in Cornwall have the *steam jackets supplied from a pipe communicating directly with the boiler. 1883R. Haldane Workshop Rec. Ser. ii. 35/1 Wrought-iron cylinders..provided with a steam-jacket to control their temperatures.
1876S. Kens. Mus. Catalog. No. 2152, The cylinders of the engines are *steam jacketed. 1904Windsor Mag. Jan. 275/1 Six steam-jacketed boilers.
1870Jrnl. Franklin Inst. LXXXIX. 21 In a paper upon *steam jacketting.
1890F. Taylor Man. Pract. Med. (1891) 356 In the intervals, the largyngitis is to be treated by a moist warm atmosphere (*steam-kettle) and mild opiates as in other cases.
1879*Steam line [see hoar-frost b]. 1937M. W. Zemansky Heat & Thermodynamics xi. 175 In the particular case of water..the vaporization curve is called the steam line.
1881Spon's Dict. Engin. Suppl. III. 1107 A *steam navvy..consisting of a rectangular truck, supported on four wheels, carrying the engine and boiler.
1795Mason Ch. Mus. i. 36 And who knows but a certain noble Mechanic..may place a *Steam Organ upon the Poop and play ça ira upon it. 1841Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. IV. 247 M. Lax, jun., has just invented a steam organ, which can be heard through the extent of a whole province. 1910‘I. Hay’ in Granta 11 June 12 Even the *steam organs seemed to have stopped of their own accord. 1962L. Davidson Rose of Tibet vi. 106 It was as though he had been pushed into a steam organ at a fair. The stupefying blare of sound.
1895Jrnl. Chem. Soc. LXVII. 196 It is absolutely necessary that the surface of the pyrometer should be free from all soluble salts when the *steam point is being taken. 1909Yukon Territory (Canada Dept. Interior) iv. 38 A steam point is an iron pipe of about 5½ feet in length,..connected to a boiler supplying the steam... The miner drives the steam point into the ground, where it is left..until a hole is thawed. 1965Jrnl. Chem. Physics XLII. 274/2 In 1954 the size of the Kelvin degree was fixed by assigning the value 273·16°K to the triple point of water, so that the value of the steam point is now subject to experimental determination. 1974W. R. Hunt North of 53° iv. 15 Steam points replaced wood fires for thawing and this greatly speeded the mining work.
1957V. Gielgud Brit. Radio Drama 1922–1956 The flight from ‘*steam-radio’ to television has become an admitted rout. 1961Radio Times 6 Apr. 41/4, I am the proud possessor of ‘square eyeballs’, but still feel that the good old ‘steam’ radio has a winner in the Scrapbook series. 1976J. Snow Cricket Rebel 7 Overseas tours were followed equally avidly on the old ‘steam’ radio in the lounge.
1925Paterson & Webster Man. Locomotive Running Shed Management viii. 114 The usual method is for the *steam raiser to ‘line’ the grate along the firebox sides and well into the corners with coal, leaving the centre of the grate bare. 1947H. Webster Locomotive Running Shed Pract. 177 Following an interval of 30 minutes or so the fire is inspected by the steam-raiser who breaks it up and adds fresh fuel.
1837W. B. Adams Carriages 291 To make a *steam-road is more costly than an animal road, because it imperatively requires a more exact level. 1911H. S. Harrison Queed xv. 174 The cars are steam-road size.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Steam-room, the capacity for steam over the surface of the water in the boiler. 1972Village Voice (N.Y.) 1 June 73/1 A steamroom in which vapors rise and good men fall.
1861*Steam table [see hot plate s.v. hot a. 12 c]. 1944S. Bellow Dangling Man 32, I looked around at the steam tables and the posters of foundering ships. 1976M. Machlin Pipeline xiii. 154 Next to the sandwiches was a steam table with several containers of soggy-looking breaded veal cutlets.
1867–72Burgh Mod. Marine Engin. 371/2 Lowness of the *steam space above the water line in the boiler.
1765Watt in Muirhead Invent. Watt (1854) I. 8, I..have not got the piston *steam-tight yet. 1856Dempsey Locomotive Eng. 40 The passage is closed completely steam-tight. 1892Low Machine Draw. 118 A steam-tight joint.
1835Marryat Olla Podr. vi, Three *steam tugs, whose names are the Stephenson, the Arrow, and the Elephant, are to drag to Malines..all his majesty's ministers. 1891Kipling Light that Failed viii. (1900) 134 A steam-tug on the river hooted as she towed her barges to wharf.
1821T. Gray Observ. Iron Rail-way (ed. 2) 5 Conveyance of all merchandise as well as persons, by *steam waggons and coaches. a1876M. Collins Pen Sk. (1879) I. 245 This perturbed period of the steam-wagon and the lightning-wire.
1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 744/1 A project of a *steam-wheel, where the impulsive force of the vapour was employed. 1820Shelley Lett. Maria Gisborne 108 The self-impelling steam-wheels of the mind. 1841S. C. Brees Gloss. Civil Engin. 218 Rotary, Rotatory, or Concentric Engine (sometimes called a steam-wheel).
▸ steampunk n.after cyberpunk n.; compare steam age n. at Compounds 17 Science Fiction a writer of science fiction which has a historical setting (esp. based on industrialized, nineteenth-century society) and characteristically features steam-powered, mechanized machinery rather than electronic technology; (also) such writing as a subgenre of science fiction.
1987K. W. Jeter in Locus Apr. 57/2, I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for Powers, Blaylock and myself. Something based on the appropriate technology of the era; like ‘*steam-punks’, perhaps. 1990CU Amiga Apr. 66/3 Anyone acquainted with CU should be familiar with the concept of cyberspace by now—but steampunk is the next progression. 1999Entertainm. Weekly (Electronic ed.) 8 Oct. The imaginative ‘steampunk’ concept eventually bubbled up to movies like Wild Wild West.
▪ II. steam, v.|stiːm|
[OE. stéman, stýman:—prehist. *staumjan, f. *staum- steam n.]
I. intr.
†1. To emit a scent or odour. Of a scent: To be emitted or exhaled. Also with advs., as out, up. Obs. as a specific use: merged in 4.
a1000Phœnix 213 Will-sele stymeð swetum swæccum. c1000ælfric Saints' Lives xxvii. 110 Wynsum bræð stemde of þære halᵹan rode. 1667Phil. Trans. II. 547 Laying open the hollow of the Thorax, there steam'd out at first a very offensive smell. 1847Prescott Peru iii. iv. (1850) II. 94 They found themselves in a small and obscure apartment..from the floor and sides of which steamed up the most offensive odours, like those of a slaughter-house.
†2. To emit flame, glow. Obs.
c1386Chaucer Prol. 202 Hise eyen stepe, and rollynge in his heed, That stemed as a forneys of a leed. c1440Promp. Parv. 473/2 Stemyn, or lowyn vp, flammo.
3. a. Of vapour, etc.: To be emitted or exhaled; to rise or issue in the form of steam. Also with away, up, etc.
1582Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 76 And smoak swift steamd to the skyward. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. xii. 2 When the last deadly smoke aloft did steeme. 1661Boyle Cert. Physiol. Ess. (1669) 66 The dissolved Amber..swimming like a thin film upon the surface of the Liquour, whence little by little it steamed away into the air. 1683Snape Anat. Horse i. xxvi. (1686) 55 From which Seed a certain air or spirit steams through the Trumpets to the Testicles. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 479 The Water..thus imbib'd, returns in misty Dews, And steaming up, the rising Plant renews. 1699Pomfret Love Triumphant 166 The Water round it gave a Nauseous Smell, Like Vapours Steeming from a Sulph'rous Cell. 1820Shelley Sensit. Plant iii. 104 Then there steamed up a freezing dew. 1859Dickens T. Two Cities i. ii, The reek of the labouring horses steamed into it.
b. fig.
1590Spenser F.Q. iii. i. 55 Which she misconstruing, thereby esteemd That from like inward fire that outward smoke had steemd. 1692E. Walker tr. Epictetus' Mor. x, A waking Dream, Such as from ill-digested Thoughts doth steam. 1833Tennyson Lotos-Eaters 163 They find a music centred in a doleful song Steaming up, a lamentation and an ancient tale of wrong.
4. To emit, give off, exhale steam or vapour.
1614Gorges Lucan vii. 285 The swords are cold on Pompeys part But Cæsars steeme in bloody mart. 1667Dryden Ind. Emp. iii. iii, See, see, my Brother's Ghost hangs hovering there, O're his warm Blood, that steems into the Air. 1708J. Philips Cyder ii. 140 Nor let the crude Humors dance In heated Brass, steaming with Fire intense. 1820Scott Monast. xxxvii, Censers steaming with incense. 1842Dickens Amer. Notes ix, Several damp gentlemen, whose clothes, on their drawing round the stove, began to steam again. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxvii. 206 The glacier..steaming under the influence of the sun. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. v, On the hob, a kettle steamed. 1913Engl. Rev. Apr. 45 My eye glanced at the laboratory where the madder-vats were steaming.
5. Of a surface: To become covered or bedewed with condensed vapour.
1892Photogr. Ann. II. p. cxlvii, Ventilation Apertures to prevent Condensing Lenses steaming during exhibition.
6. To generate or produce steam for mechanical purposes: said of an engine or boiler. to steam up, to turn on steam or set it working; hence fig.
1860What shall I be? (U.S.A.) 95 Not so fast, Mr. Spit⁓fire; You needn't steam up so fast. I'm as good company as you'll find here. 1877M. Reynolds Loco.-Eng. Driving 88 Some engines steam best with a low fire. 1897Pall Mall Mag. Sept. 81 The engines steam splendidly, and haul without assistance a train of 250 tons. 1911Webster, Steam v. i. 4. To generate steam; as, the boiler steams well.
7. To move or travel by the agency of steam:
a. of a ship or its passengers. Also to steam it. Also with advs., as away.
1831Mrs. Trollope Dom. Manners Amer. (1832) I. 255 Even were all the parties strangers to each other [on long river excursions], the knowledge that they were to eat, to drink, and steam away together for a week or fortnight, would induce something like a social feeling in any other country. 1832R. H. Froude Rem. (1838) I. 306 We shall..see Avignon and Nismes, and then steam it up the Rhone to Lyons. 1837Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 28/1 She [a ship] will either steam or sail. 1844W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scot. ii. (1855) 33 Every mile we steamed, the lake assumed a new character. 1878Kingston Three Admirals xix. 437 The Bellona accordingly steamed on towards the entrance of the harbour. 1886Law Times Rep. LIII. 726/1 When the tug was completed it was found that she could only steam ten or eleven knots an hour. 1888Poor Nellie 388 The young lady had steamed over from America.
b. of a railway-engine, the train or its passengers.
1863Mrs. H. Wood Verner's Pride xi, The train was steaming into the station. 1899Gratton Memory's Harkback 196 Now you can rail there, unconscious as to the beauties through which you have steamed.
c. fig. (colloq.)
1842C. Fox Jrnl. 29 May (1882) viii. 156 Steamed away to London Bridge and saw the Maurices. 1849Ibid. 13 June xv. 244 Steamed to Chelsea, and paid Mrs. Carlyle a humane little visit. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. vii, Young Brooke..then steams away for the run in, in which he's sure to be first. 1911Concise Oxf. Dict., Steam v...(colloq.) work vigorously, make great progress, esp. s. ahead, away.
II. trans.
8. a. To exhale (steam or other vapour); to emit, send out in the form of vapour. Also with advs., as forth, away, up.
1666Bp. S. Parker Free Censure (1667) 208 The Earth may steam forth vapours grosse enough to cloud the Sun. 1730–46Thomson Autumn 514 The mighty bowl, Swelled high with fiery juice, steams liberal round A potent gale. 1833Tennyson Pal. Art 39 Tossing up A cloud of incense of all odour steam'd From out a golden cup. 1862Dickens Somebody's Luggage, His Umbrella 14/2 The gingham article that lay open before me, steaming away its moisture. 1871G. Macdonald Pict. Songs i., Wks. Fancy & Imag. III. 39 The moorland pond is steaming A mist of gray and blue.
†b. fig. (Cf. evaporate.)
1590Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 27 How ill did him beseeme In slouthfull sleepe his molten hart to steme.
9. a. To apply steam to, expose to the action of steam; to treat with steam for the purpose of softening, cooking, heating, disinfecting, etc.
1798Trans. Soc. Arts XVI. 208 Potatoes that are either broiled or steamed. 1840Mechanics' Mag. XXXIII. 498/1 The wood to be operated on, is first steamed, until it acquires such softness and pliancy, that it can be cut or blocked..into the different forms required. 1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 210 A pipe..by which, whenever the water boils, the house may be steamed. 1844E. A. Parnell's Appl. Chem. I. 370 [Calico-printing.] The cotton requires to be steamed about thirty minutes. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 757 It is usually recommended to steam the face over hot water.
b. To expose (a gummed packet) to the action of steam in order to soften the gum. to steam open, to open by this method. Similarly, to steam (a postage stamp, label, etc.) off.
1899Burgin Bread of Tears i. ii. 35 He had steamed it over a jar of hot water, read the contents, and reclosed the letter. 1911Beerbohm Zuleika Dobson xiv. 212 She might easily steam open the envelope and master its contents. 1920M. Webb House in Dormer Forest xvi. 214 The kettle having complied, she began to steam the letter open. 1944R. Lehmann Ballad & Source i. vi. 49 She used to send us postcards... We steamed the stamps off. 1979‘J. le Carré’ Smiley's People (1980) xix. 242, I can still tap your phone, steam open your mail.
c. To fill with ‘steam’ or warm odour.
1861Two Cosmos v. viii. II. 191 Chops, steaks, toasted cheese, and almost all descriptions of drink steamed the whole apartment.
d. To bedew (a surface) with vesicles of condensed vapour.
1860All Year Round No. 42. 362 Glass, already opaquely steamed with youthful breath.
e. steam calico-printing. To fix (colours) by the steam-process.
1862C. O'Neill Dict. Calico Printing s.v. Steam colours, The process of steaming colours.
10. To convey on a steam-vessel. colloq.
1891C. MacEwen Three Women One Boat xv. 115 We will just..let him steam us back.
11. Colloq. with up.
a. To stir up or rouse (ardour, etc.). rare.
1919F. Hurst Humoresque 97 Ed says he'd never get him to steam up his nerve enough to call at a girl's house after her. 1931Daily Express 21 Sept. 19/2 He was trying to steam up interest in the contest.
b. To rouse or excite (a person), esp. to anger; to agitate, upset.
1922H. C. Witwer in Collier's 17 June 22/4 Are you asking me to go with you so's to steam Rags Dempster up? 1964Wodehouse Frozen Assets iii. 61 She's one of those calm, quiet girls you'd think nothing would steam up. a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1977) III. 366 The Department have steamed me up into the idea that I have got a terrible series of difficulties here.
12. With up: Agric., to subject (an animal) to steaming up (see steaming vbl. n. 5).
1947V. C. Fishwick Dairy Farming ii. 164 We steam-up our heifers and cows, and feed a balanced milk-production ration during the lactation period. 1959Observer 15 Nov. 3/1 There are no special hazards in artificial twinning provided that the cow is generously fed—steamed up as it is called in farming language—before calving. 1969N. W. Pirie Food Resources iii. 104 The extreme case is the process known as ‘steaming up’ or ‘flushing’ ewes before mating. The extra food given..increases the probability of conception.
Add:[I.] [7.] d. to steam in, to start or join a fight. slang.
1961New Statesman 14 Apr. 576/2 As the underworld put it, ‘he steamed in like a slag and roughed them up as he topped them’. 1976Scotsman 24 Dec. 15/1 As an amateur, Hope used to come to the gym and spar with Charles. He used to steam in and, if only for self protection, Charles was obliged to spank him sometimes. 1987Daily Mail 2 Sept. 6/3 The term [steaming] was coined..from the Cockney slang ‘to steam in’, used when a group of youths pile in for a fight.
e. colloq. To perform the action of *steaming vbl. n. 6.
1987Daily Mail 2 Sept. 6/5 Usually unemployed and young,..they steam en masse into shops or on to buses, seize what they want from their victims and then break up. 1988Daily Tel. 13 Feb. 3/1 A gang of 25 knife-wielding black youths..‘steamed’ through a late-night suburban British Rail train. 1989Times 14 July 3/6 Several members of a mob of young robbers who ‘steamed’ through crowds at the Notting Hill Carnival in 1987 were jailed yesterday.
[II.] 13. colloq. To subject (a place or those in it) to, make (one's way) by, steaming (see *steaming vbl. n. 6). rare.
1987Daily Tel. 2 Sept. 11/7 Crowds of youths ‘from nowhere’, never seen at Notting Hill before, could be seen from the stall, ‘steaming’ and pillaging their way through crowds of revellers. 1987Times 13 Nov. 21/6 Late-night passengers on the Underground found themselves being steamed. A gang of about 20 youths went from carriage to carriage, threatening and robbing passengers. |