steam

English Online Dictionary. What means steam‎? What does steam mean?

English

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”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /stiːm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /stiːm/
• Rhymes: -iːm

Noun

steam (usually uncountable, plural steams)

1. The vapor formed when water changes from the liquid phase to the gas phase.
2. The suspended condensate (cloud) formed by water vapour when it encounters colder air
   1. mist, fog
   2. Exhaled breath into cold air below the dew point of the exhalation
3. Pressurized water vapour used for heating, cooking, or to provide mechanical energy.
4. The act of cooking by steaming.

5. (figuratively) Internal energy for progress or motive power.
6. (figuratively) Pent-up anger.

7. A steam-powered vehicle.
8. Travel by means of a steam-powered vehicle.
9. (obsolete) Any exhalation.
10. (fencing) Fencing without the use of any electric equipment.

Synonyms

• (a steam-powered vehicle): steamer

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “fencing”): electric

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

steam (third-person singular simple present steams, present participle steaming, simple past and past participle steamed)

1. (transitive, cooking) To cook with steam.

2. (intransitive, literal, figurative) To be cooked with steam.

3. (transitive) To expose to the action of steam; to apply steam to for softening, dressing, or preparing.

4. (transitive) To raise steam, e.g. in a steam locomotive.
5. (intransitive) To produce or vent steam.
6. (intransitive) To rise in vapour; to issue, or pass off, as vapour.
7. (intransitive, figuratively) To become angry; to fume; to be incensed.
8. (transitive, figuratively) To make angry.

9. (transitive) To cover with condensed water vapor.
10. (intransitive) To travel by means of steam power.
11. (figuratively or literally) To move with great or excessive purposefulness.
12. (obsolete) To exhale.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:cook

Derived terms

• asteam
• steamer
• steaming
• steam off
• steam up

Translations

Adjective

steam (not comparable)

1. Old-fashioned; from before the digital age.

Anagrams

• AEMTs, MTase, Mesta, Satem, a-stem, mates, matse, matés, meats, metas, satem, stame, tames, teams

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *staumaz, compare also Dutch stoom.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stæ͜ɑːm/

Noun

stēam m

1. steam (water vapor)

Declension

Strong a-stem:

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *staumaz.

Noun

steam c (no plural)

1. steam

   Synonym: stoom

Further reading

• “stoom”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011