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.
Underwood noted that the ongoing roadwork allowed him to see a real steam shovel at work, and he and cousin Peggy benefited from all the construction, selling garden surplus and Cokes to the workers.
From Washington Times ● May 6, 2018
“Washington overpowered my father like a steam shovel, tossing him into a heap like discarded dirt,” she wrote.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 22, 2018
It later tumbled out of debris being scooped up by a steam shovel.
From New York Times ● Jun. 25, 2017
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
When his father operated the huge steam shovel, Joe perched happily on the rear end of the machine and took merry-go-round rides as Harry spun the steam-belching behemoth around and around.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Dear Carolyn: A dear friend is a steam-shovel mom.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 10, 2022
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
It means considerable hardship for contractors who are not experienced at handling small jobs, and for steam-shovel operators, steelworkers and other workmen who cannot readily convert to housebuilding.
From Time Magazine Archive
Far from being ashamed of such an unblushing tearjerker, he laid on pathos with a steam-shovel.
From Time Magazine Archive
Tom's philosophy of getting through life was exactly the same as his philosophy of getting through a rocky hillside with his steam-shovel.
From Zone Policeman 88; a close range study of the Panama canal and its workers by Franck, Harry Alverson
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.
