steam

Everyday

1. Steam is the hot white mist that rises from boiling water. tree →
2. In science, steam is water as a gas (water vapour), made when water is heated to 100 °C. tree →
3. To steam means to give off steam: the soup is steaming. tree →
4. To steam food means to cook it over boiling water. tree →
5. Steam is the power from steam that drove old trains and engines. tree →

In the lessons

In science steam shows a change of state: liquid water boils and turns into gas; when steam touches a cold window it condenses back into water drops. In safety lessons steam is very hot and can burn: keep your face and hands away from kettles and pans, and open lids away from you. In history, steam engines powered trains and factories. Phrases: let off steam (to release energy or anger), run out of steam (to get tired), full steam ahead, steam train.

Examples

• Steam rose from the kettle. tree →
• Keep your hand away from the steam; it can burn you. tree →
• Water turns into steam when it boils. tree →
• The bathroom mirror was covered in drops after the steam from the shower. tree →
• Mum steamed the broccoli. tree →
• We rode on an old steam train. tree →
• The children let off steam in the playground. tree →
• By the end of the race, I ran out of steam. tree →

Note

Uncountable: some steam (not «a steam»). Strictly, pure water vapour is invisible; the white cloud we call steam is tiny drops of water that have already cooled a little. Steam burns can be worse than hot water burns.

In Jewish tradition

In Sefer Yetzirah's commentary it means water turned to vapor by heat, used to show how fire, water and air work together.

Interpretation. The commentator uses steam to show how the elements balance each other. This echoes the book's teaching that air is the balance between fire and water.

Examples

• 41) Our author means to say that the water has a great disposition to unite itself with the caloric, thus for instance is the fire latent in steam, but the air equipoises them. (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877) tree →

Note

Uncountable: some steam (not «a steam»). Strictly, pure water vapour is invisible; the white cloud we call steam is tiny drops of water that have already cooled a little. Steam burns can be worse than hot water burns.