Careful Words

steam (n.)

steam (v.)

Soon shall thy arm, unconquer'd steam! afar

Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;

Or on wide-waving wings expanded bear

The flying chariot through the field of air.

Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802): The Botanic Garden. Part i. Canto i. Line 289.

  Daniel Webster struck me much like a steam-engine in trousers.

Sydney Smith (1769-1845): Lady Holland's Memoir. Vol. i. p. 267.