heat engine

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noun Thermodynamics.

a mechanical device designed to transform part of the heat entering it into work.

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Origin of heat engine

First recorded in 1890–95

Words nearby heat engine

heat cramp, heat death, heat devil, heat dome, heated, heat engine, heat equation, heater, heat exchanger, heat exhaustion, heat gun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use heat engine in a sentence

For instance, if you have this general statement that perpetual motion machines are impossible, you can combine it with other statements about other tasks being possible or not and work out that a heat engine is possible.
How to Rewrite the Laws of Physics in the Language of Impossibility|Amanda Gefter|April 29, 2021|Quanta Magazine
The research might one day lead to improved efficiency of microscopic heat engines and motors.
Meet Maxwell’s gambling demon—smart enough to quit while it’s ahead|Jennifer Ouellette|March 4, 2021|Ars Technica
The efficiency of any form of heat engine is determined by the power obtained from a certain fuel consumption.
Aviation Engines|Victor Wilfred Pag
You have to have a fall of temperature to run any kind of heat engine.
Major Prophets of To-Day|Edwin E. Slosson

But during the centuries of experiments with a "heat-engine," the political world had greatly changed.
The Story of Mankind|Hendrik van Loon
Considered as a heat engine, the gas engine is now twice as efficient as the very best modern steam engine.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 484, April 11, 1885|Various
Thus it appears that we have been able to show by very definite experimental evidence that the radiometer is a heat engine.
Scientific Culture, and Other Essays|Josiah Parsons Cooke

British Dictionary definitions for heat engine

heat engine

noun

an engine that converts heat energy into mechanical energy

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012