Link Centre Dictionary

steam

UK/stiːm/ US/stiːm/ common
noun (1) verb (6)

noun

1.

verb

1.

travel by means of steam power

  • “The ship steamed off into the Pacific”
2.

emit steam

  • “The rain forest was literally steaming”
3.

rise as vapor

4.

get very angry

  • “her indifference to his amorous advances really steamed the young man”
5.

clean by means of steaming

  • “steam-clean the upholstered sofa”
Synonyms
6.

cook something by letting steam pass over it

  • “just steam the vegetables”

Origin

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”).

Phrases

  • blow off one's steam
  • blow off steam
  • build up steam
  • by steam
  • double steam
  • full steam
  • full steam ahead
  • gain steam
  • steam ahead
  • steam off
  • steam up

Related words

Word family

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.