steam(1) (iou) and subnormality (medicine)

steam(1) (iou)

steam noun. [sti:m]
[Old English steam = West Frisian steam, Dutch stoom, of Germanic origin.]
A vapour or cloud of minute liquid droplets given out by a substance when heated or burned; an odorous hot vapour or gas. Formerly freq. in pl. Now rare exc. as passing into sense 3. OE.
a. A vapour or exhalation produced by the body or by a crowd of people, as hot breath or perspiration; the infectious effluvium of a disease. OE-M19.
b. A noxious vapour generated in the digestive system, esp. that of alcoholic liquor as supposed to ascend to the brain. OE-E17.
a. The vapour into which water is converted when heated, which in air forms a white cloud or mist of minute drops of liquid water; spec. in technical use, the invisible gaseous form of water, formed by boiling, from which this vapour condenses on cooling. Also loosely, the vapour arising from any liquid when heated. LME.
b. Watery vapour condensed as drops on a surface, as a mirror, a window. E17.
A watery vapour rising from the earth or sea. E17.
Chemistry. Matter in the gaseous state; an impalpable emanation. M17-E18.
The gas produced by boiling water as used to generate mechanical power by the force of its expansion in a confined space; (the application or use of) the mechanical power thus generated, esp. in railway engines. L17.
b. fig. Energy, drive, stamina. E19.
c. (Cheap Wine laced with) methylated spirits as an intoxicant. Austral. & NZ slang. M20.
A journey by steamer. E19.
a. In full steam-coal. Coal suitable for heating water in steam boilers. L19.
b. In full steam Radio. Sound Radio, as considered outmoded by Television; a Radio receiver. colloq. M20.
A dish cooked by steaming. colloq. E20.
Phrases: by steam (travelling) by steamer. dry steam Engineering steam containing no suspended droplets of water. full steam (the condition of a ship or machine) under full power or at top speed. full steam ahead: see FULL adjective. get up steam (a) generate enough pressure to work a steam engine; (b) fig. accumulate energy or power before or in the early stages of some great effort or strenuous activity; become angry. in steam with the (steam) engine working or ready to start working. JOLY's steam calorimeter. let off steam relieve excess pressure in a steam engine through a valve; fig. relieve pent-up energy by vigorous activity, give vent to one's feelings, esp. harmlessly. like steam Austral. furiously. Norwegian steam: see NORWEGIAN adjective. run out of steam: see RUN verb. SATURATED steam. under one's own steam unaided, without provision of assistance (esp. transport) by others. under steam (a) being worked by steam (opp. under sail); (b) = in steam above. wet steam Engineering steam containing suspended droplets of water.
Attrib. & comb.: In the senses 'powered or operated by steam', as steam carriage, steam plough, steam railway, steam tractor, steam winch, etc., 'carrying or containing steam', as steam boiler, steam cabinet, steam chest, steam pipe, etc., 'by the action of steam', as steam-bent, steam-drawn, steam-powered, etc. Special combs., as steam age noun & adjective (belonging to) the era when all trains were drawn by steam engines; steam bath (a) a room etc. filled with steam for bathing in, a sauna; (b) a metal box filled with steam for heating chemical reaction vessels; steam beer an effervescent beer brewed esp. in the western US (proprietary name in the US); steam boiler a vessel in which water is heated to generate steam, esp. for working a steam engine; steam CALLIOPE; steam-car a car, tram, etc., powered or drawn by steam; US a carriage used on a steam railway; steam-coal: see sense 8a above; steam cracking the thermal cracking of petroleum using steam as an inert diluent which reduces polymerization and increases the yield of olefins; steam-cure verb trans. cure or stiffen a material by treatment with steam (chiefly as steam-cured ppl adjective, steam curing verbal noun); steam-distil verb trans. & intrans. perform steam distillation (on); steam distillation Physical Chemistry distillation of a liquid in a current of steam, used esp. to purify liquids that are not very volatile and are immiscible with water; steam engine an engine in which the force of expansion or rapid condensation of steam is used to generate power for driving machinery etc.; spec. a locomotive engine propelled by steam; steamfitter a person employed to install the pipes of a steam-heating system; steam fly colloq. = German cockroach s.v. German noun1 & adjective1; steam gauge a pressure gauge attached to a steam boiler; steam hammer a forging-hammer powered by steam; steam-heat heat produced by steam, esp. by a central heating system which uses steam; steam-heater, steam-heating: using steam-heat; steam-iron an electric iron containing hot water emitted as steam from its flat surface to improve its ability to press clothes; steam-jacket a jacket or casing filled with steam in order to preserve the heat of a vessel around which it is placed; steam-launch: see LAUNCH noun2 2; steam line a line in a phase diagram representing the conditions of temperature and pressure at which water and water vapour are in equilibrium in the absence of ice; steam navvy: see NAVVY noun 2; steam organ = CALLIOPE; steam-packet a steamer on a regular run between two ports; steam plough a plough propelled by a steam engine; a ploughing engine; steam point (a) a temperature at which liquid water and water vapour are in equilibrium; spec. the boiling point of water under standard atmospheric pressure; (b) N. Amer. a metal pipe, driven into frozen earth, down which steam can be passed to thaw the ground for mining; steam power the force of steam applied to machinery etc.; steam Radio: see sense 8b above; steam-raiser a person employed to light the fires of steam engines; steamship a ship propelled by steam; steam shovel an excavator powered by steam; steam table (orig. US) in a cafeteria etc., a table with slots to hold Food containers kept hot by steam circulating beneath them; steam-tight adjective [after watertight] impervious to steam; steam train: drawn or driven by a steam engine; steam tug a steamer for towing ships etc.; steam turbine a turbine in which a high-velocity jet of steam rotates a bladed disc or drum; steam-vessel (a) a vessel for holding steam, esp. one in which steam is condensed for working an engine; (b) a steamboat or steamship; steam-wheel a rotary steam engine; steam-whistle a powerful whistle worked by a jet of steam (usually from a steam boiler) and used as a signal. See also STEAMBOAT, STEAMROLLER.
steamless adjective without steam; that has run out of steam or is not propelled by steam; (of a railway) not carrying steam engines: E20.

subnormality (medicine)

subnormality

A subnormal state or condition.

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