STEAMER

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does steamer mean? 

• STEAMER (noun)
  The noun STEAMER has 4 senses:

1. a clam that is usually steamed in the shell

2. a cooking utensil that can be used to cook food by steaming it

3. a ship powered by one or more steam engines

4. an edible clam with thin oval-shaped shell found in coastal regions of the United States and Europe

  Familiarity information: STEAMER used as a noun is uncommon.

• STEAMER (verb)
  The verb STEAMER has 1 sense:

1. travel by means of steam power

  Familiarity information: STEAMER used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STEAMER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A clam that is usually steamed in the shell

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

long-neck clam; soft-shell clam; steamer; steamer clam

Hypernyms ("steamer" is a kind of...):

clam (flesh of either hard-shell or soft-shell clams)

Holonyms ("steamer" is a part of...):

long-neck clam; Mya arenaria; soft-shell clam; steamer; steamer clam (an edible clam with thin oval-shaped shell found in coastal regions of the United States and Europe)

Derivation:

steam (cook something by letting steam pass over it)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A cooking utensil that can be used to cook food by steaming it

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("steamer" is a kind of...):

cooking utensil; cookware (a kitchen utensil made of material that does not melt easily; used for cooking)

Derivation:

steam (cook something by letting steam pass over it)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A ship powered by one or more steam engines

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

steamer; steamship

Hypernyms ("steamer" is a kind of...):

ship (a vessel that carries passengers or freight)

Meronyms (parts of "steamer"):

steam engine (external-combustion engine in which heat is used to raise steam which either turns a turbine or forces a piston to move up and down in a cylinder)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "steamer"):

paddle-wheeler; paddle steamer (a steam vessel propelled by paddle wheels)

tramp; tramp steamer (a commercial steamer for hire; one having no regular schedule)

Derivation:

steam; steamer (travel by means of steam power)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An edible clam with thin oval-shaped shell found in coastal regions of the United States and Europe

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

long-neck clam; Mya arenaria; soft-shell clam; steamer; steamer clam

Hypernyms ("steamer" is a kind of...):

clam (burrowing marine mollusk living on sand or mud; the shell closes with viselike firmness)

Meronyms (parts of "steamer"):

long-neck clam; soft-shell clam; steamer; steamer clam (a clam that is usually steamed in the shell)

Holonyms ("steamer" is a member of...):

genus Mya; Mya (type genus of the family Myacidae)

• STEAMER (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Travel by means of steam power

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

steam; steamer

Context example:

The ship steamed off into the Pacific

Hypernyms (to "steamer" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Domain category:

navigation; pilotage; piloting (the guidance of ships or airplanes from place to place)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

steamer (a ship powered by one or more steam engines)

 Context examples 

When a steamer arrived, the men of the fort made it a point always to come down to the bank and see the fun.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

If they had come from Pondicherry in a steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What when the steamer reached Tahiti?

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The steamers Emma and Scarborough made trips up and down the coast, and there was an unusual amount of "tripping" both to and from Whitby.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But I fail to see that this steamer has any designs on your purse.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Amy likewise bore up stoutly till the steamer sailed.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I will also allude very briefly to our river journey, up a wide, slow-moving, clay-tinted stream, in a steamer which was little smaller than that which had carried us across the Atlantic.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There is a second line of steamers which connect South Australia with England, but we will draw the larger cover first.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Clerks in the express office took charge of him; he was carted about in another wagon; a truck carried him, with an assortment of boxes and parcels, upon a ferry steamer; he was trucked off the steamer into a great railway depot, and finally he was deposited in an express car.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

You will observe that this line of boats calls at Belfast, Dublin, and Waterford; so that, presuming that Browner had committed the deed and had embarked at once upon his steamer, the May Day, Belfast would be the first place at which he could post his terrible packet.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)