An Americanism dating back to 1875–80
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Maybe a steam shovel mated with a cocoa bean?”
From New York Times ● Jun. 15, 2021
Maybe a steam shovel mated with a cocoa bean?’
From Washington Times ● Jun. 15, 2021
“Washington overpowered my father like a steam shovel, tossing him into a heap like discarded dirt,” she wrote.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 22, 2018
Or: “Elizabeth always wanted to read fables to her little girl but the child only wanted to hear the story about the little bird who thought a steam shovel was its mother.”
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 15, 2016
Loud clanks — a gravedigger was striking the baby steam shovel with a spade.
From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli
Dear Carolyn: A dear friend is a steam-shovel mom.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 10, 2022
He was William Devro, a steam-shovel operator from Providence.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the seven mad days before, Chicagoans saw mud slung in steam-shovel fashion, the so-called "better element" cheered 10,000 women marching for "Dever and decency."
From Time Magazine Archive
The next day, a steam-shovel starts digging up the Paul Street lot for the foundation of an apartment house.
From Time Magazine Archive
A steam-shovel driven by a certain horse-power would be nearly three times as effective there as here.
From Curiosities of the Sky by Serviss, Garrett Putman
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.
