steamed

1. 1
   adjective

   Cooked by exposure to steam rather than by boiling, frying, or direct heat.

   Like dim sum dumplings cooked in a stacked bamboo basket above simmering water.

   She prefers steamed fish because it keeps the delicate flavor.

   A plate of steamed broccoli sat beside the grilled chicken.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of steam.

   The old ship steamed out of the harbor at first light.

   Mist steamed off the warm lake as the sun rose.

   Note

   One spelling does double duty, as simple past (the kettle steamed) and as past participle (the fish has been steamed). Only the transitive uses can be made passive: cooking with steam, or softening and preparing a material with it. Those passives shade easily into the cooking adjective. The intransitive uses, such as venting steam or rising as vapor, take have in the perfect and never be.

3. 3
   adjectiveslang

   Angry and worked up; irritated to the point of barely keeping one's temper.

   Like a kettle hissing and ready to blow its lid.

   The coach was clearly steamed after the referee's missed call.

   Don't bring it up now; he's still steamed about yesterday's meeting.

   Similarangry, mad, annoyed, furious, irritated

   Oppositecalm

   Note

   Slang for anger that is still simmering. The image is the one in hot under the collar: the person is heated, and the pressure has not been let off yet. It usually follows a verb (he was steamed, she is still steamed) and can name the cause with a that-clause (steamed that the car cut him off) as well as with about. Because it is slang, it belongs in conversation rather than formal writing.

4. 4
   adjective

   Heated and treated with steam in order to shape or process a material, as with parts of wooden furniture, rather than to cook it.

   The steamed beech held its new shape once it cooled and dried.

   Each steamed slat was clamped around the frame while still warm.

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