A piston is a cylinder or metal disc that is part of an engine. Pistons slide up and down inside tubes and cause various parts of the engine to move.
piston in British English
(ˈpɪstən)
noun
a disc or cylindrical part that slides to and fro in a hollow cylinder. In an internal-combustion engine it is forced to move by the expanding gases in the cylinder head and is attached by a pivoted connecting rod to a crankshaft or flywheel, thus converting reciprocating motion into rotation
Word origin
C18: via French from Old Italian pistone, from pistare to pound, grind, from Latin pinsere to crush, beat
Piston in American English
(ˈpɪstən)
Walter1894-1976; U.S. composer
piston in American English
(ˈpɪstən)
noun
1.
the snug-fitting engine part that is forced back and forth within a cylinder by the pressure of combustion, steam, etc. and a reciprocating connecting rod
2. Music
a sliding valve moved in the cylinder of a brass instrument to change the pitch
Word origin
Fr < It pistone < pistare, to pound, crush < LL, freq. of L pinsere, to pound, beat: see pestle
piston in Automotive Engineering
(pɪstən)
Word forms: (regular plural) pistons
noun
(Automotive engineering: Vehicle components, Engine, transmission, and exhaust)
A piston is a cylinder that is part of an engine. Pistons slide up and down inside tubes andcause various parts of the engine to move.
As the pistons move up and down, the crank is rotated.
The reciprocating pistons are connected to the crankshaft by connecting rods.
The piston reaches bottom dead center and then begins to travel upward.
mean piston speed, piston land, piston ring, piston skirt
Related wordsA piston moves backward and forward in a cylinder.A connecting rod connects a crank to a piston.A stroke is one complete back-and-forth movement of a piston.Dead center is the position of a piston at the very top or bottom of its stroke.
Examples of 'piston' in a sentence
piston
These examples have been automatically selected and may contain sensitive content.Read more…
In and out, in and out, like a piston through the night, blotting out ghosts, blotting out Natalie.
Weldon, Fay SPLITTING (2002)
In other languages
piston
British English: piston /ˈpɪstən/ NOUN
A piston is a cylinder or metal disc that is part of an engine.
American English: piston
Arabic: مِكْبَس
Brazilian Portuguese: pistão
Chinese: 活塞
Croatian: klip
Czech: píst
Danish: stempel
Dutch: zuiger
European Spanish: pistón
Finnish: mäntä
French: piston
German: Kolben
Greek: πιστόνι
Italian: pistone
Japanese: ピストン
Korean: 피스톤
Norwegian: stempel
Polish: tłok
European Portuguese: pistão
Romanian: piston
Russian: поршень
Latin American Spanish: pistón
Swedish: kolv
Thai: ลูกสูบ
Turkish: piston
Ukrainian: поршень
Vietnamese: pít tông
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All related terms of 'piston'
piston land
A piston land is a raised area of a piston between piston rings .
piston pin
the pin through the skirt of a piston in an internal-combustion engine , to which the little end of the connecting rod is attached
piston pump
A piston pump is a pump which moves fluid by the movement up and down of a disk or short cylinder inside a tube .
piston ring
a split ring , usually made of cast iron , that fits into a groove on the rim of a piston to provide a spring-loaded seal against the cylinder wall
piston rod
the rod that connects the piston of a reciprocating steam engine to the crosshead
piston slap
the characteristic sound of a seriously worn piston in a cylinder (usually of the engine of a motor car)
piston engine
an engine in which one or more pistons move backwards and forwards inside a cylinder or cylinders
piston skirt
The piston skirt is the cylindrical walls of a piston.
piston-engined
powered by a piston engine
mean piston speed
The mean piston speed is the distance traveled by a piston in a specified amount of time.