steamroller

See also: steam roller

English

Alternative forms

• steam roller

Etymology

From steam +‎ roller.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈstimˌroʊlɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

steamroller (plural steamrollers)

1. (historical) A steam-powered heavy road roller.
2. (by extension, informal) Any heavy road roller.
3. (figurative) Any seemingly irresistible force.
   • 1970, James Taylor, “Steamroller Blues”:

     Well, I'm a steamroller, babe / I'm bound to roll all over you

4. (slang) A pipe, used for smoking cannabis, open at both ends and having a bowl near one end.
   • 2005, Jane Smiley, John Kulka, Natalie Danford, editors, Best New American Voices 2006, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 242:

     It's more about him testing his wares. He rolls joints. He doesn't own a bong, hookah, smoking pipe, chillum, vaporizer, scale, dugout system, grinder, or steamroller.

Derived terms

• Russian steamroller

Translations

steam-powered road roller

• Arabic: هَرَّاس m (harrās)
• Catalan: corró (ca) m
• Czech: parní válec
• Esperanto: vaporcilindro
• Finnish: höyryjyrä
• French: rouleau compresseur (fr) m
• German: Dampfwalze (de) f
• Hungarian: gőzhenger (hu), úthenger (hu)
• Italian: rullo compressore m
• Japanese: 蒸気ローラー (jōki-rōrā)
• Korean: 증기 롤러 (jeunggi rolleo)
• Macedonian: ва́лјак m (váljak)
• Spanish: apisonadora f
• Swedish: ångvält (sv) c
• Tagalog: pison

road roller — see road roller

figurative: irresistible force

• Finnish: höyryjyrä
• Hungarian: gőzhenger (hu)
• Swedish: ångvält (sv) c

Verb

steamroller (third-person singular simple present steamrollers, present participle steamrollering, simple past and past participle steamrollered)

1. (transitive) To level a road using a steamroller.

   Synonym: steamroll

2. (transitive, figurative) To proceed ruthlessly against all opposition as if with an overwhelming force.

   Synonyms: overpower, steamroll

Translations

to level with a steamroller

• Finnish: jyrätä (fi)

to proceed ruthlessly

• Finnish: jyrätä (fi)

See also

• steam power
• steam engine
• steam tractor
• steam locomotive
• steam shovel

Further reading

• steamroller on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Martorelles