English Explanatory Dictionary

head of steam

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A significant amount of energy, vigour or momentum, sufficient to make progress or succeed in a task.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see head, steam.

Pronunciation

en-au-head of steam.ogg

Word forms

head of steam heads of steam

Etymology

The figurative sense is by metaphor from the literal one: the need of the boiler of a steam locomotive to exceed a minimum amount of pressure before the locomotive could start moving.

Related words

steam up

Translations

Spanish: carga de energía Spanish: gran ímpetu
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on H Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary