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Examples of steam shovel in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The first stadium was excavated by steam shovels in a short period of time in 1922.
—Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun, 13 July 2024
Smith uses the analogy of a shovel—which increased the power of able-bodied workers—versus a steam shovel—which did the work for them.
—Alan Murray, Fortune, 11 Sep. 2023
According to legend, during construction a big steam shovel got stuck in the soft soil.
—BostonGlobe.com, 24 July 2023
William Otis wouldn’t patent his industrial steam shovel until 1839, and Alfred Nobel’s dynamite wouldn’t appear until 1866.
—Nick Yetto, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Feb. 2023
Humans have an enormous capacity to forgive and forget, but Gruden dug himself a hole with a steam shovel.
—Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle, 30 Oct. 2021
The steam shovel, used to help fill in the tidal marshes of the Back Bay — and later, to help build the transcontinental railroad.
—BostonGlobe.com, 26 Aug. 2021
Among the worst moments of the 1918 influenza pandemic are Philadelphia's overwhelmed morgue stacking unembalmed bodies without ice on multiple floors until storage was found, or the city resorting to steam shovels for digging mass graves.
—USA Today, 22 May 2020
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Word History
First Known Use
1878, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near steam shovel
Cite this Entry
“Steam shovel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/steam%20shovel. Accessed 16 Dec. 2024.
Kids Definition
steam shovel
noun
: a power machine for digging that was formerly operated by steam
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