Language: en
Meaning: (nautical,rail transport)Of themovementof alocomotiveor awatercraft:by means ofthepowerof its ownengines(originallysteam engines), rather thanpulledorpushedby anothervehicle.1915,Victor Appleton[pseudonym], “Almost an Accident”, inThe Moving Picture Boys at Panama: Or Stirring Adventures along the Grand Canal, New York, N.Y.:Grosset & Dunlap,→OCLC,page106:Now the tug no longer movedunder her own steam, nor had it been since coming alongside the wall of the central pier. For all vessels must be towed through the lock basins, and towed not by other craft, but by electric locomotives that run alongside, on top of the concrete walls.1941April, “Notes and News: Railwaymen and Snow”, inThe Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press,→ISSN,→OCLC, page178:By Tuesday evening the track had been cleared to the three snowbound engines, and the following day,under their own steam, they were moved away; the business of relighting their fires and raising steam in such conditions is better imagined than described.; (idiomatic,figuratively)Usingone's ownresources;independently,unaided.1987August 18, “At the Fringe in Edinburgh, theater in crypt and streets”, inThe New York Times[1], New York, N.Y.:The New York Times Company,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe originalon8 January 2021, section C, page17, columns1–2:"People come at their own risk, at their own expense,under their own steam," said Mhairi McKenzie-Robinson, chief administrator of the Fringe [Edinburgh Fringe Festival].2008September 9,Josh Quittner, “Steve Jobs: Not Dead Yet”, inTime[2], New York, N.Y.:Time Warner Publishing,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe originalon10 September 2008:After the event,[Steve] Jobseven briefly joined the media where Apple's new product line was being shown. He walkedunder his own steam, of course, easily and without any apparent discomfort.[…]Whether Jobs's health is in decline or not, it's undeniable that the past five years have been the most fertile of his magnificent career.At one's owninitiative;of one's own accord,unbidden,unprompted.1980,Charlotte Vale Allen,Promises, Norwalk, Conn.: Island Nation Press, published1999,→ISBN,page265:I'd been wanting her to go for a long, long time, hoping she'd get up the gumption to do itunder her own steamso I wouldn't have to make a scene about it.
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