[OE. stéman, stýman:—prehist. *staumjan, f. *staum- STEAM sb.]
I. intr.
† 1. To emit a scent or odor. Of a scent: To be emitted or exhaled. Also with advs., as out, up. Obs. as a specific use: merged in 4.
a. 1000. Phœnix, 213. Will-sele stymeð swetum swæccum.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xxvii. 110. Wynsum bræð stemde of þære halʓan rode.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 547. Laying open the hollow of the Thorax, there steam’d out at first a very offensive smell.
1847. Prescott, Peru, III. iv. (1850), II. 94. They found themselves in a small and obscure apartment … from the floor and sides of which steamed up the most offensive odours, like those of a slaughter-house.
† 2. To emit flame, glow. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 202. Hise eyen stepe, and rollynge in his heed, That stemed as a forneys of a leed.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 473/2. Stemyn, or lowyn vp, flammo.
3. Of vapor, etc.: To be emitted or exhaled; to rise or issue in the form of steam. Also with away, up, etc.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 76. And smoak swift steamd to the skyward.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. xii. 2. When the last deadly smoke aloft did steeme.
1661. Boyle, Cert. Physiol. Ess. (1669), 66. The dissolved Amber … swimming like a thin film upon the surface of the Liquour, whence little by little it steamed away into the air.
1683. A. Snape, Anat. Horse, I. xxvi. (1686), 55. From which Seed a certain air or spirit steams through the Trumpets to the Testicles.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 479. The Water … thus imbib’d, returns in misty Dews, And steaming up, the rising Plant renews.
1699. Pomfret, Love Triumphant, 166. The Water round it gave a Nauseous Smell, Like Vapours Steeming from a Sulph’rous Cell.
1820. Shelley, Sensit. Plant, III. 104. Then there steamed up a freezing dew.
1859. Dickens, T. Two Cities, I. ii. The reek of the labouring horses steamed into it.
b. fig.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. i. 55. Which she misconstruing, thereby esteemd That from like inward fire that outward smoke had steemd.
1692. E. Walker, trans. Epictetus’ Mor., x. A waking Dream, Such as from ill-digested Thoughts doth steam.
1833. Tennyson, Lotos-Eaters, 163. They find a music centred in a doleful song Steaming up, a lamentation and an ancient tale of wrong.
4. To emit, give off, exhale steam or vapor.
1614. Gorges, Lucan, VII. 285. The swords are cold on Pompeys part But Cæsars steeme in bloody mart.
1667. Dryden, Ind. Emp., III. iii. See, see, my Brother’s Ghost hangs hovering there, O’re his warm Blood, that steems into the Air.
1708. J. Philips, Cyder, II. 140. Nor let the crude Humors dance In heated Brass, steaming with Fire intense.
1820. Scott, Monast., xxxvii. Censers steaming with incense.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes, ix. Several damp gentlemen, whose clothes, on their drawing round the stove, began to steam again.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xxvii. 206. The glacier … steaming under the influence of the sun.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. v. On the hob, a kettle steamed.
1913. Engl. Rev., April, 45. My eye glanced at the laboratory where the madder-vats were steaming.
5. Of a surface: To become covered or bedewed with condensed vapor.
1892. Photogr. Ann., 11. p. cxlvii. Ventilation Apertures to prevent Condensing Lenses steaming during exhibition.
6. To generate or produce steam for mechanical purposes: said of an engine or boiler. To steam up, to turn on steam or set it working; hence fig.
1859. A. Richmond, First 20 Years of My Life, 131. Not so fast, Mr. Spitfire: you needn’t steam up so fast. I’m as good company as you’ll find here.
1877. M. Reynolds, Loco.-Eng. Driving, 88. Some engines steam best with a low fire.
1897. Pall Mall Mag., Sept., 81. The engines steam splendidly, and haul without assistance a train of 250 tons.
1913. Webster, Steam v. i. 4. To generate steam; as, the boiler steams well.
7. To move or travel by the agency of steam: a. of a ship or its passengers. Also to steam it. Also with advs., as away.
1831. Mrs. Trollope, Domest. Manners Amer. (1832), I. 255. Even were all the parties strangers to each other [on long river excursions], the knowledge that they were to eat, to drink, and steam away together for a week or fortnight, would induce something like a social feeling in any other country.
1832. R. H. Froude, Rem. (1838), I. 306. We shall … see Avignon and Nismes, and then steam it up the Rhone to Lyons.
1837. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 28/1. She [a ship] will either steam or sail.
1844. W. H. Maxwell, Sports & Adv. Scotl., ii. (1855), 33. Every mile we steamed, the lake assumed a new character.
1878. Kingston, Three Admirals, xix. 437. The Bellona accordingly steamed on towards the entrance of the harbour.
1886. Law Times Rep., LIII. 726/1. When the tug was completed it was found that she could only steam ten or eleven knots an hour.
1887. Poor Nellie, III. 84. The young lady had steamed over from America with the avowed intention of marrying an English lord.
b. of a railway-engine, the train or its passengers.
1863. Mrs. H. Wood, Verner’s Pride, xi. The train was steaming into the station.
1889. Gretton, Memory’s Harkback, 196. Now you can rail there, unconscious as to the beauties through which you have steamed.
c. fig. (colloq.)
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. vii. Young Brooke … then steams away for the run in, in which he’s sure to be first.
1911. Concise Oxf. Dict., Steam v. … (colloq.) work vigorously, make great progress, esp. s. ahead, away.
II. trans.
8. To exhale (steam or other vapor); to emit, send out in the form of vapor. Also with advs., as forth, away, up.
1666. Bp. S. Parker, Free & Impart. Censure (1667), 208. The Earth may steam forth vapours grosse enough to cloud the Sun.
1730–46. Thomson, Autumn, 514. The mighty bowl, Swelled high with fiery juice, steams liberal round A potent gale.
1833. Tennyson, Pal. Art, 39. Tossing up A cloud of incense of all odour steam’d From out a golden cup.
1863. Dickens, Somebody’s Luggage, His Umbrella, 14/2. The gingham article that lay open before me, steaming away its moisture.
1871. G. Macdonald, Pict. Songs, I. Wks. Fancy & Imag., III. 39. The moorland pond is steaming A mist of gray and blue.
† b. fig. (Cf. evaporate.)
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. vi. 27. How ill did him beseeme In slouthfull sleepe his molten hart to steme.
9. To apply steam to, expose to the action of steam; to treat with steam for the purpose of softening, cooking, heating, disinfecting, etc.
1798. Trans. Soc. Arts, XVI. 208. Potatoes that are either broiled or steamed.
1840. Mechanics’ Mag., XXXIII. 498/1. The wood to be operated on, is first steamed, until it acquires such softness and pliancy, that it can be cut or blocked … into the different forms required.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 210. A pipe … by which, whenever the water boils, the house may be steamed.
1844. E. D. Parnell’s Appl. Chem., I. 370. [Calico-printing.] The cotton requires to be steamed about thirty minutes.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 757. It is usually recommended to steam the face over hot water.
b. To expose (a gummed packet) to the action of steam in order to soften the gum. To steam open, to open by this method.
1899. Burgin, Bread of Tears, I. ii. 35. He had steamed it over a jar of hot water, read the contents, and reclosed the letter.
1911. Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson, xiv. 212. She might easily steam open the envelope and master its contents.
c. To fill with ‘steam’ or warm odor.
1861. Two Cosmos, V. viii. II. 191. Chops, steaks, toasted cheese, and almost all descriptions of drink steamed the whole apartment.
d. To bedew (a surface) with vesicles of condensed vapor.
1860. All Year Round, No. 42. 362. Glass, already opaquely steamed with youthful breath.
e. Calico-printing. To fix (colors) by the steam-process.
1862. C. O’Neill, Dict. Calico Printing, s.v. Steam colours, The process of steaming colours.
10. To convey on a steam-vessel. colloq.
1891. Const. MacEwen, Three Women in One Boat, xv. 115. We will just … let him steam us back.
Hence Steamed ppl. a.
1802. Willich, Dom. Encycl., II. 133. Steamed potatoes are always more wholesome and nutritious than such as are boiled in water.
1858. Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 427. The horses … receive four quarts of corn each per day, sprinkled on the steamed food.
1876. Encycl. Brit., IV. 691/2. The waggons for receiving the steamed fabrics.
