steam

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The hot gas that water turns into when it boils.

   Steam rose from the boiling kettle.

2. 2
   verb

   To cook food using the steam from boiling water.

   Just steam the vegetables for a few minutes.

3. 3
   verb

   To give off steam.

   A cup of coffee steamed on the table.

4. 4
   noun

   Energy or strength to keep going.

   After three weeks in bed he was finally able to sit up under his own steam.

5. 5
   noun

   Anger that has been held in.

   Dad went outside to blow off some steam.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Steam is an Old English word that originally referred to any kind of hot vapour or gas and settled into its modern meaning in the 15th century. Let off steam originated in the context of early 19th-century steam engines, where it meant releasing excess steam through a valve. The familiar figurative meaning appeared in the 1830s in the form blow off steam.

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”).

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary