donkey engine

British  

noun

1. a small auxiliary engine, such as one used for pumping water into the boilers of a steamship

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Example Sentences

In French waters he became a practical mariner, laid cables with a donkey engine, came home on a terrifically tough voyage aboard the surrendered German submarine, U-117.

From Time Magazine Archive

I did that when I was 13 or 14 years old and firing a donkey engine in timber territory.

From Time Magazine Archive

In its closing days, the smooth-running 80th Congress clanked and rattled like a leaky donkey engine.

From Time Magazine Archive

You would hardly expect him to have the subtlety of a donkey engine, so to speak, but he might surprise you at times, and he had learned to be very patient with the mate.

From Where the Pavement Ends by Russell, John

What do I care whether you use a double-jointed conniption valve, or a reverse English injector on the donkey engine, so you get the water into them sluices?

From Connie Morgan in the Fur Country by Hendryx, James B. (James Beardsley)