Other forms: steamrollers
To steamroller something is to crush all opposition by sheer force. No argument survives, because none is invited.
The machine came first — a heavy roller that flattens hot tarmac on a road — and the metaphor is doing exactly what the machine does. You steamroller a proposal through a committee, or you steamroller the people objecting to it. It always implies that force replaced persuasion, so it is a criticism of the winner rather than praise. Americans often shorten it to steamroll, and both forms are correct. As a noun it is still the road machine, and still enormous.
1verbsteamrollerTo force something through by overwhelming all opposition.
“The plan was steamrollered through in a single afternoon.”
synonyms: bulldoze
2nounheavyA heavy vehicle with a large roller, used to flatten road surfaces.
“A steamroller was flattening the new tarmac.”
From steam + roller.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 2 of A Man Called Ove.
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