Steam Meaning

/stiːm/
B1

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounThe hot gaseous form of water, formed when water changes from the liquid phase to the gas phase (at or above its boiling point temperature).

nounThe suspended condensate (cloud) formed by water vapour when it encounters colder air., Mist, fog.

Teachers should occasionally let their students blow off some steam.
That will let you blow off steam.
Steam rose from the boiling kettle.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The hot water produced a cloud of ____ as it hit the cold air.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You could see the ____ rising from the hot mug of cocoa as we sat by the fire on a cold winter night.

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”).

"Them that puts the most steam into it will get a finnuf slipped to 'em." — 1927, Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb, Ladies and Gentlemen, page 129:
"Among the most modern of all the Pacific stock in Great Britain is the stud of "Merchant Navy" and "West Country" Pacifics on the Southern Region, and the rebuilding which is now being carried out, preserving all the best features of the Bulleid designs—such as the free-steaming boiler—and jettisoning the features that have given trouble, in particular the chain-driven valve-motion, should give the Southern a supply of highly-competent machines able to last out the remaining life of steam on the S.R." — 1957 July 26, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 496:
"Steam also takes charge of South Eastern (former P.L.M.) trains from Paris to Marseilles and the Riviera from Lyons onwards, and of Western Region trains from Le Mans onwards, as also between Paris and Dieppe and Le Havre." — 1958 July 26, 'Voyageur', “Modern French Locomotive Work—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 455:
"a steam of rich, distilled perfumes" — 1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; 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:
"Until recently the mainstay of the line were four 2-8-2 + 2-8-2 Garratts, built for its opening. One is still steamed regularly, and there is no intention of breaking up the others, but the line has now been dieselised." — 1960 April 26, H. P. White, “The Railways of Sierra Leone”, in Railway Magazine, page 284:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
The hot water produced a cloud of ____ as it hit the cold air.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You could see the ____ rising from the hot mug of cocoa as we sat by the fire on a cold winter night.

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