steamer

UK/ˈstiːmə/US/ˈstimɚ/

nounB22 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #8,191 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: steamers

A steamer is a basket that cooks food in rising hot vapour. A bamboo steamer, stack the steamer, steam in a steamer.

Steaming cooks without contact with water, so less flavour and fewer vitamins are lost than in boiling. Stacked bamboo steamers cook several things at once over one pot, which is why they are standard in Chinese kitchens. A steamer is also a ship driven by steam, and in Britain a steamer trunk is the large flat-topped case such ships were packed for.

Definitions of steamer

1nounsteamerA basket that cooks food in rising hot vapour.B2
“Cook the broccoli in a steamer so it keeps its bright green colour.”
- Said"Put the fish in the steamer; it's gentler than the pan."
- WrittenBamboo steamers sat in a tower over the wok, each floor a different dumpling.
- UsedLine the steamer with paper so the dumplings do not stick to the base.
- ContrastA steamer, not a pot. The pot holds the boiling water; the steamer sits above it, in the vapour. pot →
- Not thisA microwave is not a steamer, though it makes things hot. A steamer cooks with rising vapour.
- SimplyThe rice is in the steamer. It cooks slowly.
Patterna bamboo / electric steamer · put sth in the steamer · a steamer basket · steam
2nounshipA ship driven by steam.B2
“In the old days, passengers crossed the ocean on a steamer.”

steamer is a cooking vessel or a ship.

Remember it

STEAMer → it cooks with STEAM

It is steam + er: the basket that sits over boiling water and cooks with the steam alone.

hooks ontosteam

Where it comes from

Steam plus -er. The word covers a cooking basket, a ship and a person who steams, which is a lot of work for one plain formation.

Proto-Indo-European
*dʰewh₂- — to whirl, waft, stink, shake; steam, haze, smoke
Proto-Germanic
*staumaz — steam, vapour, breath
Old English
stēam — steam, hot exhalation, hot breath; that which emits vapour; blood
Middle English
steem
English
steam
English, today
steamer

From steam + er. The steamer duck or steamer (sense 6.2) is apparently named for its resemblance to a paddle steamer when swimming rapidly. The feces sense potty humor evokes the idea of steaming hot food and probably reflects that fresh feces sometimes give off visible water vapor in cold outdoor conditions such as those encountered by hunters, campers, and soldiers. steam comes 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”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Definitions of steamer

1nounsteamerA basket that cooks food in rising hot vapour.B2

“Cook the broccoli in a steamer so it keeps its bright green colour.”

Said"Put the fish in the steamer; it's gentler than the pan."
WrittenBamboo steamers sat in a tower over the wok, each floor a different dumpling.
UsedLine the steamer with paper so the dumplings do not stick to the base.
ContrastA steamer, not a pot. The pot holds the boiling water; the steamer sits above it, in the vapour. pot →
Not thisA microwave is not a steamer, though it makes things hot. A steamer cooks with rising vapour.
SimplyThe rice is in the steamer. It cooks slowly.

Patterna bamboo / electric steamer · put sth in the steamer · a steamer basket · steam

2nounshipA ship driven by steam.B2

“In the old days, passengers crossed the ocean on a steamer.”

steamer is a cooking vessel or a ship.