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grasshopper engine

American

noun

a steam engine having a piston attached to one end of a beam that is hinged to an upright at the other end, the connecting rod being suspended from near the center of the beam.

Etymology

Origin of grasshopper engine

First recorded in 1850–55

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.

About the same time his assistant, Murdock, completed and tried a model locomotive driven by a "grasshopper" engine.

From Inventions in the Century by Doolittle, William Henry

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023