compound engine
Britishnoun
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a steam engine in which the steam is expanded in more than one stage, first in a high-pressure cylinder and then in one or more low-pressure cylinders
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a reciprocating engine in which the exhaust gases are expanded in a turbine to drive a turbocharger
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.
Although the Wright turbo compound engine was standard on both the DC-7 and Super Constellation, it proved so unsatisfactory that airlines were not interested in Wright engines for the new jet airliners.
From Time Magazine Archive
Q. Is it a disadvantage to work a compound engine in short cut-off?
From The Traveling Engineers' Association To Improve The Locomotive Engine Service of American Railroads by Anonymous
These vessels are now invariably fitted with the compound engine and surface-condensers.
From A History of the Growth of the Steam-Engine by Thurston, Robert H.
There she is, solid oak and teak, a compound engine, twelve miles an hour, and good, I think, for any sea, no matter how tempestuous.
From The Rapids by Sullivan, Alan
In a compound engine the steam first enters the small or high pressure cylinder and is then exhausted into the large or low pressure cylinder, where the expansive force is all obtained.
From Rough and Tumble Engineering by Maggard, James H.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
