- an engine that uses the thermal energy of steam to produce mechanical work, esp one in which steam from a boiler is expanded in a cylinder to drive a reciprocating piston
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
steam′ en′gine,
steam′-en′gine, adj.
- Mechanical Engineeringan engine worked by steam, typically one in which a sliding piston in a cylinder is moved by the expansive action of the steam generated in a boiler.
- 1745–55
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
steam-engine n
'steam engine' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
blast
- Boulton
- chuff
- compound
- engine
- Evans
- gib
- petcock
- piston rod
- prime mover
- Savery
- steamboat
- steam-engine
- age
- continuous-expansion engine
- drop valve
- external-combustion
- grasshopper engine
- industrial revolution
- motor
- multicylinder
- noncondensing engine
- oscillating engine
- pack
- plow steel
- Rankine cycle
- rocking valve
- triple-expansion
- trunk engine
- uniflow engine
- sink
- snifting valve
- steam
- steam jacket