steam crane

noun

A once common but now obsolete type of crane powered by a steam engine, with the steam usually supplied from a vertical boiler.

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Meanings

nounsteam crane (plural steam cranes)

plural steam cranes

  1. A once common but now obsolete type of crane powered by a steam engine, with the steam usually supplied from a vertical boiler.

    Work commenced at 2.30 p.m. on Saturday and continued without break until 4 a.m. on Monday morning, in the course of which three shifts of upwards of 90 men each and three steam cranes were employed.

    1958 June 28, “New Track Layout and Marshalling Yard at Barking”, in Railway Magazine, page 428
Cite this entry
APA

steam crane. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/steam%20crane

MLA

“steam crane.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/steam%20crane. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “steam crane,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/steam%20crane.

Source: steam crane on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.