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internal-combustion engine

noun

an engine of one or more working cylinders in which the process of combustion takes place within the cylinders.

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Origin of internal-combustion engine

First recorded in 1880–85

Words nearby internal-combustion engine

internal carotid nerve, internal carotid plexus, internal cerebral vein, internal clock, internal-combustion, internal-combustion engine, internal conflict, internal conjugate, internal conversion, internal ear, internal elastic lamina
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for internal-combustion engine

  • They export to some of these internal-combustion-engine sectors, like Europo-American.

    Temple Trouble|Henry Beam Piper

British Dictionary definitions for internal-combustion engine

internal-combustion engine

noun

a heat engine in which heat is supplied by burning the fuel in the working fluid (usually air)
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

Scientific definitions for internal-combustion engine

internal-combustion engine
[ ĭn-tûr′nəl-kəm-bŭs′chən ]

An engine whose fuel is burned inside the engine itself rather than in an outside furnace or burner. Gasoline and diesel engines are internal-combustion engines, as are gas turbine engines such as turbojets. Compare steam engine.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for internal-combustion engine

internal-combustion engine

Any engine powered by burning fuel inside it (for example, a standard automobile engine). Internal-combustion engines normally burn fossil fuels and therefore are a major source of air pollution. (See smog.)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.