Meaning & use
steamers
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“steamers” is a form of “steamer”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nounplural
Cooking pots or baskets with holes that hold food above boiling water so it cooks in the rising steam.
Grammar: Plural of steamer; you can say a steamer for one.
Patterns
- steamers for something
- cook something in steamers
We bought two bamboo steamers for the dumplings.
Metal steamers fold flat and fit inside most saucepans.
The restaurant stacked its steamers six high over a huge pot.
nounpluralold-fashioned
Ships powered by steam engines, especially passenger boats of the past.
Grammar: Plural of steamer; often used when talking about history.
Patterns
- steamers on the river
Paddle steamers once carried tourists along the river.
Great steamers crossed the Atlantic in about a week.
Several old steamers still run short trips in summer.
nounpluralAmerican
Soft-shell clams that are cooked in steam and eaten dipped in butter, popular on the east coast of the United States.
Grammar: Plural; usually appears on menus: a bowl of steamers.
Patterns
- a bowl of steamers
We ordered a bowl of steamers at the harbor shack.
Steamers are served with broth and melted butter.
He grew up digging steamers on the Maine coast.
Word forms
| singular | steamer |
|---|
Common combinations
- bamboo steamers
- Stack the bamboo steamers over a wok of simmering water.
- paddle steamers
- The paddle steamers gave the lake a nostalgic charm.
- vegetable steamers
- Vegetable steamers keep carrots bright and crisp.
- a basket of steamers
- A basket of steamers arrived with a cup of broth.
- ocean steamers
- Ocean steamers brought thousands of emigrants to the port.
Synonyms and how they differ
- steam baskets
- This names only the cooking tools and is narrower than steamers, which can also mean boats or clams.
- steamships
- Steamships refers only to large steam-powered vessels and is the more formal word.
- clams
- Clams is the general shellfish; steamers are one kind, named by how they are cooked.
- cookers
- Cookers is a vague general word for any cooking device, not only those that use steam.
Word family
Commonly confused: steamers or streamers?
steamers vs streamers
Streamers are long paper ribbons used as decoration, and the word has an extra 'r'. Steamers cook with steam or sail on water.
Practice
We cooked the dumplings in bamboo ____ over a pan of boiling water.
Choose one answer.
Steamers are baskets that cook food with rising steam. Strainers drain liquid, so they do not fit; streamers are party decorations.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “steamers”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.