steam n
1 Attrib steam box, ~ pot: a container with boiling water producing steam to enable one to bend wood into a desired curve or shape.
T 172/5-65 Now that spring we lanched a new schooner, a new schooner in dock building that summer. And when I was goin' to school, I'd have to spend Saturdays in dock tendin' a steam-pot, and drawin' trunnels. P 245-68 We'd put the big oak planks into a steam-box, soften 'em up that way and then give 'em the proper bend to nail on the vessel. 1975 Can Antiques Collector x (2), 44 One item of expense at first puzzled me: 'steaming rail.' This was the process by which the hardwood handrails of the stairway were worked into curves by immersion in a steam-box. 1979 'Twas a way of life 23 There's a special rig called a steam box. It's got a big boiler to hold water. This is covered with a wooden lid that has a pipe going up into a box seven feet long.
2 On the South Coast of Newfoundland, smuggled or illicitly obtained raw alcohol.
M 69-12 The drinks usually consisted of alcohol, or steam as it is still called, and strong rum. 1971 Time (Canada) Sep 20, p. 10 Tonight Sean was going after 'steam'—a pure alcohol that sells for $25 per 2½-gal. can. The can produces 15 bottles, which in turn can be cut three-to-one.
