| 释义 |
steamer|ˈstiːmə(r)|
[f. steam v. and n. + -er1.]
1. One who steams; a person employed in some process of steaming.
1832Min. Evid. Comm. Factories Bill 27 You say you were taken to be a steamer: are not very stout and healthy youths usually selected for that purpose?—Yes. 1881Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 64 Woollen Cloth Manuf., Steamer. Ibid. 69 Calico, Steamer. 1902Brit. Med. Jrnl. 15 Feb. 380/1 Hatting Operatives..Proofers, including ‘stovers’..and ‘steamers’.
2. a. An apparatus for steaming (in various technical processes); a vessel in which articles are subjected to the action of steam, as in washing, cookery, etc.
1814Sporting Mag. XLIII. 275 Stew-pans, hot dressers, steamers, digesters. 1846A. Soyer Cookery 605 Place them in a vegetable steamer, and steam them well for half an hour. 1846A. Young Naut. Dict. 177 Kiln, Stove, or Steamer. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Steamer, a spare top fitting on a saucepan, with holes at the bottom, for cooking potatoes by steam. 1895Arnold & Sons' Catal. Surg. Instrum. 777 Steamer, Copper, with spirit lamp and tray, for softening poroplastic jackets, etc. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 551 If bales of dry wools and hairs were placed in steamers—as is done in the melange printing process.
b. Applied to a boiler in respect to its power of generating steam.
1891Century Dict. s.v., The boiler is an excellent steamer.
†3. slang. A tobacco-pipe. Obs.
1811Lex. Balatr., Steamer, a pipe. A swell steamer; a long pipe, such as is used by gentlemen to smoke. 1823‘Jon Bee’ Dict. Turf s.v., ‘Keep up the steam or steamer,’ to smoke indefatigably.
†4. Austral. A dish of stewed kangaroo. Obs.
1820C. Jeffreys Van Dieman's Land 70 1827 P. Cunningham Two Yrs. New South Wales I. 309. 1861 G. J. Whyte-Melville Good for Nothing xxvi.
5. a. A vessel propelled by steam; a steamboat, steamship.
1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Man of Many Fr. II. 46 The Brighton Steamer to Dieppe. 1828Scott Let. 18 July in Mrs. Hughes Lett. & Recoll. vii, Though not afraid of a breeze in a good sea-boat I should not relish it much in a steamer, for if any part of the machinery goes wrong [etc.]. 1847Bentinck in Croker Papers (1884) III. xxv. 143 We had five war steamers lying in the Tagus and Douro. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xiv, A stately ocean steamer. 1897Daily News 23 Sept. 5/3 The word ‘steamer’ still suggests to most people a vessel with a pair of funnels and a pair of paddles.
b. attrib., as steamer rug, steamer trunk, etc.; steamer-chair, a lounge-chair such as is used on the deck of a steamer.
1839[Miss Maitland] Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 283, I have a whole steamer-load of things to say, and I scarcely know where to begin. 1886F. H. Burnett Little Ld. Fauntleroy iv, The people who had been sea-sick had..come on deck to recline in their steamer-chairs and enjoy themselves. 1886in New Canaan Hist. Soc. Ann. (1959) 19/1 A steamer trunk I believe they call them; something to hold necessary articles on their voyage. 1890S. Hale Let. 22 Dec. (1919) 253 It is..so cold..that we are sitting close up to the grate..and all wound about with the heaviest steamer rug! 1895R. W. Chambers King in Yellow, Street of Our Lady of Fields ii, He..had not yet unpacked his steamer-trunk. 1977H. Fast Immigrants vi. 365 They were covered by a big steamer rug.
6. a. A steam-propelled road-locomotive, traction-engine or the like. rare. b. A motor-car driven by steam.
1837W. B. Adams Carriages 202 The steamers on the railroad can carry their own materials, which the steamers on common roads cannot so conveniently do. 1870Pall Mall Gaz. 9 Aug. 4 The reports on Thomson's ‘road steamer’ made to the War Department. 1900Daily News 14 Nov. 6/3 Trevithick constructed a road steamer that made its appearance upon the Cornish highways on the Christmas Eve of 1801. 1901Morn. Leader 18 Dec. 6/4 The War Office has again been testing motor transport vehicles, mostly steamers.
c. A steam locomotive engine or train.
1837W. Tayler Diary 22 Sept. (1962) 51 We passed the Southampton rail road and was just in time to see the steamer go past, with about forty cars fastened to it full of gravel.
1961Times 16 Aug. 9/4 This strong feeling, stimulated in this decade by the departure of the ‘steamer’, has served to produce something of a golden age in railway literature. 1972Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Nov. 1377/3 All over Britain people are banding together to buy, restore and, they hope, run a steamer. 1975‘J. Lymington’ Spider in Bath ix. 156, I meant a real locomotive. A steamer. 1981Railway Mag. Mar. 115/3 No. 765 is the first main-line steamer of the decade to be returned to active duty.
7. a. A fire-engine the pumps of which are worked by steam.
1870Daily News 15 Oct. 7/4 Alarming Fire at the Gaiety Restaurant... The ‘call’ for engines was rapidly responded to, no fewer than eight steamers being soon present. 1876E. M. Shaw Fire Protection 63 The proper course would be..to remove the hose to the steamer, and attach the steamer's suction-pipe to the hydrant. 1886Manch. Exam. 8 Jan. 6/1 Steamers and manuals from all parts of the metropolis arrived at the fire.
b. A steam thrashing-machine.
1898Rider Haggard Farmer's Yr. Feb. (1899) 104 The steamer began to work at the All Hallows Farm on the little stack of barley. 1900‘H. Lawson’ On Track 75 He reaped it by hand, had it thrashed by travelling ‘steamer’ (portable steam engine and machine).
8. a. (transf. from sense 5.) The duck Tachyeres (or Micropterus) cinereus (or brachypterus) of the Falkland Islands; the loggerhead or race-horse. Also steamer-duck.
1827P. P. King Voy. Adventure & Beagle I. 35 Here we saw, for the first time, that most remarkable bird the Steamer-duck. Ibid. 36, I am averse to altering names..; but in this case I do think the name of ‘steamer’ much more appropriate and descriptive of the swift paddling motion of these birds, than that of ‘race-horse’. 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. ix. (1873) 200 These ducks from their extraordinary manner of paddling and splashing upon the water..are now called steamers. 1895Lydekker Rov. Nat. Hist. IV. 357 The steamer-duck (Tachyeres cinereus) of the Falkland Islands and Patagonia.
b. = long-neck clam s.v. long-neck 2 b, freq. eaten as a delicacy. Also steamer clam.
1909Rep. Mollusk Fisheries Mass. (Mass. Comm. Fisheries) 179 Small clams, or ‘steamers’, are shipped in the shell. 1947P. A. Morris Field Guide Shells of our Atlantic Coast 89 Mya arenaria... Known by such names as ‘long clam’, ‘soft-shelled clam’, ‘steamer clam’, and ‘long-necked clam’, it lives in the muds and gravels between the tides. 1960J. J. Rowlands Spindrift 84 The delicious steamer clam of the North Atlantic is becoming scarce. 1977[see quahaug, quahog].
9. local. (See quot.)
1865J. T. F. Turner Slate Quarries 8 If the stone to be raised be large, a chain with hooks is sent down in lieu of the wagon, and the stone is named a ‘steamer’.
†10. The name of a back-stroke in swimming (see quots.). Obs.
1861‘R. Harrington’ Swimming 10 The ‘steamer’..consists in striking the water violently with the foot, raising each leg alternately out of the water to do so. 1879Boy's Own Ann. I. 415/3 The Steamer... Lie on the back, point your feet as much as possible, and then strike them alternately into the water, the knees being kept quite stiff.
11. Rhyming slang. [Abbrev. of steam tug = ‘mug’.] = mug n.5 1; also spec. a male homosexual, esp. one who seeks passive partners.
1932G. S. Moncrieff Café Bar vii. 63 The mug became pleasanter... ‘I'm a porter, at some service flats in Victoria..What's your friend do?’ the steamer asked genially. 1936J. Curtis Gilt Kid xxxvi 258 If you think I'm going to make a steamer of myself and let you hang about half a dozen more charges on me, you're mistaken. 1958Times Lit. Suppl. 2 May 237/4 Terry..spending his time..among the young homosexuals and their ‘steamers’ 1968G. J. Barrett Guilty, be Damned! viii. 95 You might get yourself caught. The Police are a lot sharper than steamers give them credit for being. 1978M. Puzo Fools Die iv. 48 The third player at the table was a ‘steamer’, a bad gambler who chased losing bets.
Hence ˈsteamer v., to travel by steamboat; so ˈsteamering vbl. n. ˈsteamerful, a steamboat-load. ˈsteamerless a., without a steamer or steamers.
1866R. W. Church Lett. 21 Sept. in Life (1894) 175 Tuesday we steamered up the lake to Villeneuve. 1883Carlyle in Mrs. Carlyle's Lett. I. 95 This autumn [1838], after lectures,..I steamered to Kirkcaldy. 1886Froude Oceana 316 On certain days he threw open house and grounds to excursion parties from Auckland. A steamerful would come. 1895Punch 28 Sept. 148/1 Capital boating and fishing—likewise plenty of steamering. 1900Truth 3 May 1057 A steamerless Thames.
Add:12. colloq. A wetsuit.
1982Surf Scene No. 7. 21/2 Boots, steamer, hood and even gloves become a necessity. 1986Boards May 18/1 (Advt.), Probably the best..double lined steamer... This is the suit for warmth and durability. 1987B. Oakley Windsurfing (1978) Gloss. 117/2 A true steamer should use a waterproof ‘blind stitch’ on the seams to prevent water penetration.
13. colloq. A member of a gang engaged in steaming (see *steaming vbl. n. 6).
1987Daily Tel. 2 Sept. 3/1 Many of the assaults and robberies were committed by gangs of ‘steamers’—groups of up to 50 men who ran down the streets in close formation, attacking and robbing anyone in their path. 1988Sunday Times 21 Feb. a18/8 Last November, steamers..hit crowds outside a rock concert at Hammersmith Odeon. 1990Times 1 Jan. 1/7 Police earlier arrested a team of 20 suspected ‘steamers’ who had gathered in a..food bar and were believed to be planning..pick-pocketing. |