† 1. A vessel for holding steam; esp. one in which steam is condensed for working an engine. Obs.
1769. Dr. Small, in Muirhead, Invent. Watt (1854), I. 37. The vessels mentioned in this paragraph you call steam-vessels.
1798. Ct. Rumford, in Phil. Trans., LXXXVIII. 464. The phial … was exposed one hour to the heat of boiling water in a steam-vessel.
1804. A. Woolf, in Repert. Arts, etc. Ser. II. VI. 88. The smaller steam vessel, or cylinder, must be a measure for the larger.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVII. 69. Surface of steam-pipe, or other steam-vessel, heated to 200°.
2. A steamboat or steamship.
1825. Gentl. Mag., XCV. I. 163. In the ports of Brest and Bordeaux six steam-vessels are building of an extraordinary size.
1844. Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const., xx. (1862), 393. Most of the steam-vessels now used in our trade could be converted easily into men-of-war.
1863. H. Cox, Instit., III. v. 658. River steam-vessels.
