noun
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a boat or ship driven by steam engines
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Also called: steam box. an apparatus for steaming wooden beams and planks to make them pliable for shipbuilding
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a vessel used to cook food by steam
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slang a clash of sporting teams characterized by rough play
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of steamer
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
With little formal education, Mulholland had left his native Ireland in his teens, worked steamer ships on the Great Lakes, labored in lumber camps and prospected for gold.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
These are foam or gel-filled toys of various brands shaped like bao buns, and sometimes sold in plastic replicas of bamboo steamer baskets.
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
Sporting what they regard as a face “the color of boiled turnips,” he is first discovered sitting on a steamer trunk in the hall, ripe to be menaced by the family’s dogs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
"William was on the sprouts, getting his sprouts ready so they could go into the steamer, and Prince George was helping with the Yorkshire puddings," said Mr Clarke.
From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2025
The harpy had made a nest for herself between two old steamer trunks.
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
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Portable steamers are cheap and easy to use.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
The market also offers workshops to make shower steamers and toilet cleaning tabs in partnership with Seattle Zero Waste.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 17, 2023
For the past 20 years she has instead worked maintaining electrical items, such as water purifiers and clothes steamers, in people's homes.
From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2022
Maybe she skimped on verbal and physical affection, favoring a love language that expressed itself in steamers full of dumplings or plates of sliced fruit.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2022
They are inward toward the other, bound and joined by carnival dolls and the steamers that sailed from ports they never saw.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
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