Etymologically
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steamer

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 22:55. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈstiːmə/[1]
  • US: /ˈstimɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English steam + -er, from the noun or the verb.[2][3][4][5] Etymonline calls it an agent noun from the verb.[6] The noun steam is from Old English stēam (“vapour, fumes, odour”),[6][7][2] from Proto-Germanic *staumaz, a word of unknown origin that is also the source of Dutch stoom.[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A vessel in which things are exposed to steam: 1802.[4] Etymonline dates the word to 1813, in the cooking and laundry senses,[6] and the OED's first record of the sense is from 1814, in the Sporting Magazine.[2]

Semantic evolution

The ship sense, a vessel driven by steam, is recorded from 1825 and soon became the main one;[2][6] from it came the steamer trunk (1885), one that held what was needed for an ocean voyage.[6] The steam engine gave further senses in the 19th century: a road locomotive or railway engine (1837), a steam fire engine (1870) and a steam threshing machine (1898),[2] and in Herefordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk dialect a steamer was a traction engine or threshing mill.[8] From 1900 it was also a car driven by steam.[2][6] Early slang used steamer for a tobacco pipe (1811–23),[2][9] and in early 19th-century Australia it was a dish of stewed kangaroo.[2] The ship sense was transferred to the steamer duck of the Falkland Islands (1827).[2] In Australian slang a steamer is a rough sporting match,[10] and in British rhyming slang, from steam tug for mug, a gullible person.[9]

Timeline

  • 1802 – a vessel in which things are subjected to steam.[4] Etymonline dates the cooking and laundry senses to 1813, and the OED's first record is from 1814.[6][2]
  • 1811 – slang, a tobacco pipe (obsolete by 1823).[2][9]
  • 1820 – in Australia, a dish of stewed kangaroo (obsolete by 1861).[2]
  • 1825 – a ship driven by steam.[2][6]
  • 1827 – the steamer duck of the Falkland Islands.[2]
  • 1837 – a steam locomotive or road engine.[2]
  • 1866 – verb, to travel by steamer.[2]
  • 1870 – a steam fire engine.[2]
  • 1885 – steamer trunk.[6]
  • 1898 – a steam threshing machine.[2][8]
  • 1900 – a car driven by steam.[2][6]
  • 1909 – the long-neck clam, eaten steamed.[2]
  • 1936 – rhyming slang, a gullible person.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A steamship or steamboat: They crossed the lake on an old paddle steamer.[10][4][2]
  2. A utensil for cooking food by steam, often a pan with a perforated insert: Put the carrots in the steamer.[10][4]
  3. An apparatus that treats things with steam, for example to make timber pliable in shipbuilding.[10][4][2]
  4. An engine, machine or vehicle driven by steam, such as a steam fire engine or a steam car.[4][2]
  5. A clam eaten steamed, the long-neck clam; also steamer clam.[2]
  6. (Australian slang) A rough, physical match between sporting teams.[10]
  7. (obsolete slang, 1811–1823) A tobacco pipe.[2][3][9]

Verb

  1. To travel by steamer.[4][2]

Word family

  • paddle steamer
  • tramp steamer

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  9. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins