steam
/stiːm/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.52 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The hot gaseous form of water, formed when water changes from the liquid phase to the gas phase (at or above its boiling point temperature).
Uncountable
noun
The suspended condensate (cloud) formed by water vapour when it encounters colder air.
Uncountable
noun
The suspended condensate (cloud) formed by water vapour when it encounters colder air.
Uncountable
noun
Pressurized water vapour used for heating, cooking, or to provide mechanical energy.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Give the carrots a ten-minute steam."
- "After three weeks in bed he was finally able to sit up under his own steam."
- "run out of steam"
- "Them that puts the most steam into it will get a finnuf slipped to 'em."
- "Dad had to go outside to blow off some steam."
- "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."
Etymology
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”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /stiːm/
- British English: /stiːm/