英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

steam (n.)[steam 词源字典]: Old English steam "vapor, fume, water in a gaseous state," from Proto-Germanic *staumaz (cognates: Dutch stoom "steam"), of unknown origin. Meaning "vapor of boiling water used to drive an engine" is from 1690s, hence steam age (1828) and many figurative uses, such as let off steam (1831, literal), blow off steam (1857, figurative), full-steam (1878), get up steam (1887, figurative). Steam heat is from 1820s in thermodynamics; as a method of temperature control from 1904.
We have given her six months to consider the matter, and in this steam age of the world, no woman ought to require a longer time to make up her mind. [Sarah Josepha Hale, "Sketches of American Character," 1828]
[steam etymology, steam origin, 英语词源]
steam (v.): Old English stiemen, stymen "emit vapor, emit a scent or odor," from the root of steam (n.). Meaning "go by steam power" is from 1831. Transitive sense from 1660s, "to emit as steam;" meaning "to treat with steam" is from 1798. Slang steam up (transitive) "make (someone) angry" is from 1922. Related: Steamed; steaming.
steam-engine (n.): 1751; earlier in the same sense was fire-engine (1722), atmospheric engine.
steam-roller (n.): also steamroller, 1866, from steam (n.) + roller. As a verb, first recorded 1912 (steam-roll (v.) is from 1879). Related: Steam-rollered.
steam-whistle (n.): 1840, from steam (n.) + whistle (n.).
steamboat (n.): 1787, from steam + boat (n.).
steamer (n.): 1814 in the cookery sense, agent noun from steam (v.). From 1825 as "a vessel propelled by steam," hence steamer trunk (1885), one that carries the essentials for a voyage.
steampunk (n.): also steam-punk, by 1992, perhaps 1989, from steam (as in Age of Steam) + punk (n.), probably on model of cyberpunk (1986).
steamship (n.): also steam-ship, 1819, from steam (n.) + ship (n.).
steamy (adj.): 1640s, "vaporous, misty, abounding in steam," from steam + -y (2); in the sense of "erotic, sexy," it is first recorded 1952. Related: Steamily; steaminess.
stearin (n.): glycerine of stearic acid, white crystalline compound found in animal and vegetable fats (it was derived from mutton fat, among other things), 1817, from French stéarine, coined by French chemist Marie-Eugène Chevreul (1786-1889) from Greek stear (genitive steatos) "tallow, stiff fat, suet" (contrasted with pimele "soft fat, lard;" compare Latin sebum/adeps), possibly from PIE *stai- "stone," also "to thicken, stiffen" (see stone (n.)). Stearic (1831) is from French stéarique.
steatopygia (n.): "abnormal accumulation of fat on the buttocks of certain races," 1822, Modern Latin, from steato- "fat, tallow," comb. form of Greek stear (genitive steatos) "solid fat, suet" (see stearin) + Greek pyge "rump, buttocks" + abstract noun ending -ia. Related: Steatopygous "having enormously fat buttocks" [Century Dictionary]; steatopygy.
steed (n.): Old English steda "stallion, stud horse," from Proto-Germanic *stodjon (source also of Old Norse stoð), from the same Germanic root as Old English stod (see stud (n.2)). In Middle English, "a great horse" (as distinguished from a palfrey), "a spirited war horse." Obsolete from 16c. except in poetic, rhetorical, or jocular language.
steel (n.): modified form of iron with a small portion of carbon, not found in nature but known in ancient times, Old English style "steel," from noun use of Proto-Germanic adjective *stakhlijan "made of steel" (cognates: Old Saxon stehli, Old Norse, Middle Low German stal, Danish staal, Swedish stål, Middle Dutch stael, Dutch staal, Old High German stahal, German Stahl), related to *stakhla "standing fast," from PIE *stek-lo-, from root *stak- "to stand, place, be firm" (see stay (n.1)). The notion is perhaps "that which stands firm." No corresponding word exists outside Germanic except those likely borrowed from Germanic languages.

As an adjective from c. 1200 (Old English used stylen "*steel-en." Steel wool is attested from 1896. Steel drum is from 1952.
steel (v.): "make hard or strong like steel," 1580s, earliest use is figurative, from steel (n.). Old English lacked the verb but had styled "made of steel." Related: Steeled; steeling.
steely (adj.): 1580s, "made of steel," from steel (n.) + -y (2). Figurative meaning "hard and cold as steel" is from c. 1500. Related: Steeliness.
steenbok (n.): 1775, from Afrikaans steenbok, from Middle Dutch steenboc "wild goat," literally "stone buck," cognate with Old English stanbucca "mountain goat," German Steinbock. See stone (n.) + buck (n.1).
steep (adj.): "having a sharp slope," Old English steap "high, lofty; deep; prominent, projecting," from Proto-Germanic *staupaz (cognates: Old Frisian stap "high, lofty," Middle High German *stouf), from PIE *steup-, extended form of root *(s)teu- (1) "to push, stick, knock, beat," with derivations referring to projecting objects (cognates: Greek typtein "to strike," typos "a blow, mold, die;" Sanskrit tup- "harm," tundate "pushes, stabs;" Gothic stautan "push;" Old Norse stuttr "short"). The sense of "precipitous" is from c. 1200. The slang sense "at a high price" is a U.S. coinage first attested 1856. Related: Steeply; steepness. The noun meaning "steep place" is from 1550s.
steep (v.): "to soak in a liquid," early 14c., of uncertain origin, originally in reference to barley or malt, probably cognate with Old Norse steypa "to pour out, throw" (perhaps from an unrecorded Old English cognate), from Proto-Germanic *staupijanan. Related: Steeped; steeping.
steepen (v.): 1847, from steep (adj.) + -en (1). Related: Steepened; steepening.