steam
pronunciation
How to pronounce steam in British English:
UK [stiːm]
How to pronounce steam in American English:
US [stiːm]
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- Noun:
- water at boiling temperature diffused in the atmosphere
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- Verb:
- travel by means of steam power
- emit steam
- rise as vapor
- get very angry
- clean by means of steaming
- cook something by letting steam pass over it
Word Origin
- steam
- steam: [OE] Steam comes from a prehistoric Germanic *staumaz, a word of uncertain origin which also produced Dutch stoom. It originally denoted any ‘vapour given off by something hot’; the specific modern sense ‘vapour from boiling water’ emerged in the 15th century.
- steam (n.)
- Old English steam "vapor, fume, water in a gaseous state," from Proto-Germanic *staumaz (cognates: Dutch stoom "steam"), of unknown origin. Meaning "vapor of boiling water used to drive an engine" is from 1690s, hence steam age (1828) and many figurative uses, such as let off steam (1831, literal), blow off steam (1857, figurative), full-steam (1878), get up steam (1887, figurative). Steam heat is from 1820s in thermodynamics; as a method of temperature control from 1904. We have given her six months to consider the matter, and in this steam age of the world, no woman ought to require a longer time to make up her mind. [Sarah Josepha Hale, "Sketches of American Character," 1828]
- steam (v.)
- Old English stiemen, stymen "emit vapor, emit a scent or odor," from the root of steam (n.). Meaning "go by steam power" is from 1831. Transitive sense from 1660s, "to emit as steam;" meaning "to treat with steam" is from 1798. Slang steam up (transitive) "make (someone) angry" is from 1922. Related: Steamed; steaming.
Example
- 1. Even the best steam locomotives were slow .
- 2. But this shows signs of running out of steam .
- 3. Steam rises when the innards meet the arctic cold .
- 4. She told chloe how the shower was hot and steam clouded the glass .
- 5. Much later , he experienced what he regarded as two great literary breakthroughs - comparing them to the discovery of the steam train .