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r, to wake from sleep, or excite attention. -- Alarm gauge, a contrivance attached to a steam boiler for showing when the pressure of steam is too high, or the water in the boiler too low. -- Alarm post, a place to which troops are to repair in case of an alarm.

al, as a ship of war; steel-clad. This day will be launched . . . the first armor-plated steam frigate in the possession of Great Britain. Times (Dec. 29, 1860).

t on the atmosphere. [R.] In am so atmospherical a creature. Pope. Atmospheric engine, a steam engine whose piston descends by the pressure of the atmosphere, when the steam which raised it is condensed within the cylinder. Tomlinson. -- Atmospheric line (Steam Engin.), the equilibrium line of an indicator card. Steam…

A kind of French stewpan with a steamtight lid. Knight.

nes (using volatile inflammable liquids, as gasoline or petrol, alcohol, naphtha, etc.), steam engines, or electric motors. The power of the driving motor varies from about 4 to 50 H. P. for ordinary vehicles, ranging from the run-about to the touring car, up to as high as 200 H. P. for specially built racing cars. Aut…

and outer faces of a wall, or upon the haunches of an arch or vault. -- Back pressure. (Steam Engine) See under Pressure. -- Back rest, a guide attached to the slide rest of a lathe, and placed in contact with the work, to steady it in turning. -- Back slang, a kind of slang in which every word is written or pronoun…

Water thrown back by the turning of a waterwheel, or by the paddle wheels of a steamer.

in equilibrium; esp., a puppet valve which is made to operate easily by the admission of steam to both sides. See Puppet valve. -- Hydrostatic balance. See under Hydrostatic. -- To lay in balance, to put up as a pledge or security. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- To strike a balance, to find out the difference between the debit…

, and security. It [piety] is the right ballast of prosperity. Barrow. Ballast engine, a steam engine used in excavating and for digging and raising stones and gravel for ballast. -- Ship in ballast, a ship carring only ballast.

The slope of a bank, especially of the bank of a steam.

A double-decked passenger or freight vessel, towed by a steamboat. [U.S.]

the rear of the vent. -- Base plate, the foundation plate of heavy machinery, as of the steam engine; the bed plate. -- Base ring (Ordnance), a projecting band of metal around the breech, connected with the body of the gun by a concave molding. H. L. Scott.

c., to water, vapor, hot air, or the like; as, a cold or a hot bath; a medicated bath; a steam bath; a hip bath.

el or pencil points; -- used for drawing or describing large circles. -- Beam engine, a steam engine having a working beam to transmit power, in distinction from one which has its piston rod attached directly to the crank of the wheel shaft. -- Before the beam (Naut.), in an arc of the horizon included between a line…

The exhaust steam from and engine, driving a column of air out of a boiler chimney, and thus creating an intense draught through the fire; also, any draught produced by the blast.

The exhaust pipe of a steam engine, or any pipe delivering steam or air, when so constructed as to cause a blast.

it coldly at another; or to appear both to favor and to oppose. -- To blow off, to let steam escape through a passage provided for the purpose; as, the engine or steamer is blowing off. -- To blow out. (a) To be driven out by the expansive force of a gas or vapor; as, a steam cock or valve sometimes blows out. (b) T…

A blowing off steam, water, etc.; -- Also, adj.

The cleaning of the flues of a boiler from scale, etc., by a blast of steam.

ilot boat, packet boat, passage boat, advice boat, etc. The term is sometimes applied to steam vessels, even of the largest class; as, the Cunard boats.