steam shovel

noun

1. a machine for digging or excavating, operated by its own engine and boiler.

steam-shovel

noun

1. a steam-driven mechanical excavator, esp one having a large bucket or grab on a beam slung from a revolving jib

Word History and Origins

Origin of steam-shovel¹

An Americanism dating back to 1875–80

Example Sentences

Lee and invited reporters to chronicle the blasting of granite with dynamite and the cutting of roads with steam shovels.

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Under siege since the settlers arrived with their draglines and steam shovels and suction-pump dredges, the threats to the southern residents’ home waters have metastasized.

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But his “aggressively belligerent characteristic” stuck with him after leaving the steam shovels in the Panama Canal, and he ended up in “almost constant controversies,” according to the obituary.

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Now an art world that McCarthy says is usually “moving like a steam shovel” has been stilled, the pandemic has offered a rare chance to look back over older work.

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Developers in the 1950s removed an undocumented number of remains by steam shovel, under the passive eyes of D.C. health inspectors.

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