steam
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English steem, stem, from Old English stēam (“steam, hot exhalation, hot breath; that which emits vapour; blood”), from Proto-Germanic *staumaz (“steam, vapour, breath”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to whirl, waft, stink, shake; steam, haze, smoke”). Cognate with Scots stem, steam (“steam”), West Frisian steam (“steam, vapour”), Dutch stoom (“steam, vapour”), Low German stom (“steam”), Swedish dialectal stimma (“steam, fog”), Latin fūmus (“smoke, steam”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
steam (usually uncountable, plural steams)
- The vapor formed when water changes from the liquid phase to the gas phase.
- Pressurized water vapour used for heating, cooking, or to provide mechanical energy.
- The act of cooking by steaming.
- Give the carrots a ten-minute steam.
- (figuratively) Internal energy for motive power.
- After three weeks in bed he was finally able to sit up under his own steam.
- 1927, Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb, Ladies and Gentlemen (page 129)
- Them that puts the most steam into it will get a finnuf slipped to 'em.
- (figuratively) Pent-up anger.
- Dad had to go outside to blow off some steam.
- A steam-powered vehicle.
- Travel by means of a steam-powered vehicle.
- (obsolete) Any exhalation.
- 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], H[enry] Lawes, editor, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, OCLC 228715864; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, OCLC 1113942837:
- a steam of rich, distilled perfumes
- (fencing) Fencing without the use of any electric equipment.
Synonyms[edit]
- (a steam-powered vehicle): steamer
Antonyms[edit]
- (fencing): electric
Derived terms[edit]
- blow off steam
- build up steam
- gather steam
- head of steam
- in steam
- one engine in steam
- pick up steam
- raise steam
- run out of steam
- steam age
- steam bath
- steamboat
- steam boiler
- steam chest
- steam condenser
- steam crane
- steam distillation
- steam dome
- steam engine
- steam fair
- steam festival
- steam generator
- steam hammer
- steam-hauled
- steam-heat
- steam heater
- steam iron
- steam locomotive
- steam pipe, steampipe
- steam power
- steam-powered
- steampunk
- steam railroad
- steamroller
- steamship
- steam shovel
- steam train
- steam turbine
- under one's own steam
Translations[edit]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb[edit]
steam (third-person singular simple present steams, present participle steaming, simple past and past participle steamed)
- (cooking, transitive) To cook with steam.
- The best way to cook artichokes is to steam them.
- (transitive) To expose to the action of steam; to apply steam to for softening, dressing, or preparing.
- to steam wood or cloth
- (intransitive) To produce or vent steam.
- 1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour […][1], London: Printed by J.M. for H. Herringman, published 1667, Act III, scene iii, page 36:
- See, ſee, my Brother’s Ghoſt hangs hovering there, / O’re his warm Blood, that ſteems into the Air, / Revenge, Revenge it cries.
- 1961 February, ""Balmore"", “Driving and firing modern French steam locomotives - Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 110:
- I found that the Chapelon steamed almost too freely, because on a strange locomotive and road one usually tends to overfire a little through a natural lack of confidence.
- (intransitive) To rise in vapour; to issue, or pass off, as vapour.
- Our breath steamed in the cold winter air.
- 1661, Robert Boyle, The Unsuccessfulness of Experiments
- the dissolved amber was plainly discernable swimming like a thin film upon the surface of the liquor, whence, little by little, it steamed away into the air.
- (intransitive, figuratively) To become angry; to fume; to be incensed.
- (transitive, figuratively) To make angry.
- It really steams me to see her treat him like that.
- (intransitive) To be covered with condensed water vapor.
- With all the heavy breathing going on the windows were quickly steamed in the car.
- (intransitive) To travel by means of steam power.
- We steamed around the Mediterranean.
- The ship steamed out of the harbour.
- (figuratively or literally) To move with great or excessive purposefulness.
- If he heard of anyone picking the fruit he would steam off and lecture them.
- 2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC[2]:
- That was the hard work largely done as the Ivorian waited for Malouda to steam into the box before releasing a simple crossed pass which the Frenchman side-footed home with aplomb.
- (obsolete) To exhale.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book 3, canto 1:
- like inward fire that outward smoke had steemd
Synonyms[edit]
- See also Thesaurus:cook
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Adjective[edit]
steam (not comparable)
- Old-fashioned; from before the digital age.
- 1989, “Despite the era's technological marvels, 'wireless' is still magic”, in Toronto Star:
- Tom Earle, a CBC radio veteran now compiling audio archives in Ottawa, used to refer to the medium in which he worked as "steam radio"
- 2000 January 10, Bill Pannifer, “Sore eyes”, in The Independent:
- Unlike the Web, old-fashioned steam television must be viewed in sequence in order to pick out those rare bits of useful information.
- 2002 September 5, Alex Kirby, “Summit diary: Aftermath”, in BBC News:
- In the old days of steam journalism, after cleft sticks had been phased out but before the advent of e-mail, there used to be a fairly sure-fire way of getting your story to the news desk.
- 2004 April 2, “'I'ma player. It's time to move on'”, in Telegraph.co.uk:
- Fox has been at Capital since 1988, where he lurks a little in the shadow of Chris Tarrant, the radio station's monolithic star who has helmed the plum breakfast show slot since the steam radio dawn of time.
Anagrams[edit]
Old English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Proto-Germanic *staumaz, compare also Dutch stoom.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
stēam m
- steam (water vapor)
West Frisian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old Frisian [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *staumaz.
Noun[edit]
steam c (no plural)
Further reading[edit]
- “stoom”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
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- Rhymes:English/iːm
- Rhymes:English/iːm/1 syllable
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- en:Fencing
- English verbs
- en:Cooking
- English transitive verbs
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- en:Water
- en:Matter
- en:Gases
- Old English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
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- West Frisian terms inherited from Old Frisian
- West Frisian terms derived from Old Frisian
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- West Frisian lemmas
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