steam-enginen.
a. An engine in which the mechanical force of steam is made available as a motive power for driving machinery, etc. Earlier names were fire-engine (see fire engine n. 2) and atmospheric engine (Newcomen). The ordinary (stationary) engine is due to James Watt (patented 1769).
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > steam engine > [noun]
fire engine1700
steam-engine1753
engine1814
vapour-engine1839
bullgine1848
1753 F. Blake in Philos. Trans. 1751–2 (Royal Soc.) 47 197 The fire-engine, or (to term it more properly) the steam-engine, for draining of mines, is a master-piece of machinery.
1758 K. Fitz-Gerald in Philos. Trans. 1757 (Royal Soc.) 50 54 A small boiler,..made in the shape of those commonly used in steam-engines.
1766 Watt in Muirhead Invent. Watt (1854) I. 14 I have thought on a simpler circular steam-engine than what I mentioned to you.
1821 W. Scott Pirate II. iv. 81 The monster..blew, with a noise resembling the explosion of a steam-engine, a huge shower of water into the air.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits v. 102 The rapid doubling of the population dates from Watt's steam-engine.
b. A locomotive engine propelled by steam.
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > locomotive > steam locomotive
steam locomotive1812
steam-engine1815
steamer1837
Puffing Billy1848
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > [noun] > steam-powered
steam-engine1815
steamer1837
1815 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 50 The proprietors had provided a powerful locomotive steam engine, for the purpose of drawing..coal-waggons.
1821 T. Gray Observ. Iron Rail-way i. 12 The canal boats might be towed by steam-engines running on a rail-way along the canal.
1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto X ii. 54 Full soon Steam-engines will conduct him to the Moon.
1934 Railway Wonders of World I. 309/1 There is one factor, however, where the steam engine will probably always score, and that is in its greater length of useful life and lower maintenance costs.
1970 F. McKenna Gloss. Railwaymen's Talk p. iii The crash of the coal hopper..and the noise of steam engines preparing for their journeys no longer disturb the peaceful inhabitants of Mortimer Terrace and Highgate Road.
c. Often in hyperbolic or jocular comparisons.
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1833 J. Nyren Young Cricketer's Tutor 78 Neither he nor Quiddington ever had to stand against such steam-engine bowling as Brett's.
c1840 Syd. Smith in Lady Holland Mem. (1855) I. 267 Daniel Webster struck me much like a steam-engine in trousers.
1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. i. 15 When your party talks this language like a steam engine.
Derivatives
steamengineing n. (nonce-word).
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1839 T. Carlyle Chartism viii. 87 The Saxon kindred burst forth into..steamengining, railwaying, commercing.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
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n.1753