smelt vs steam

smelt

verb
  • To fuse or melt two things into one, especially in order to extract metal from ore; to meld. 

noun
  • Any small anadromous fish of the family Osmeridae, found in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and in lakes in North America and northern part of Europe. 

  • Production of metal, especially iron, from ore in a process that involves melting and chemical reduction of metal compounds into purified metal. 

  • Any of the various liquids or semi-molten solids produced and used during the course of such production. 

steam

verb
  • To produce or vent steam. 

  • To be covered with condensed water vapor. 

  • To make angry. 

  • To become angry; to fume; to be incensed. 

  • To move with great or excessive purposefulness. 

  • To rise in vapour; to issue, or pass off, as vapour. 

  • To travel by means of steam power. 

  • To cook with steam. 

  • To expose to the action of steam; to apply steam to for softening, dressing, or preparing. 

adj
  • Old-fashioned; from before the digital age. 

noun
  • Pressurized water vapour used for heating, cooking, or to provide mechanical energy. 

  • Fencing without the use of any electric equipment. 

  • mist, fog 

  • Pent-up anger. 

  • A steam-powered vehicle. 

  • Internal energy for motive power. 

  • Travel by means of a steam-powered vehicle. 

  • Exhaled breath into cold air below the dew point of the exhalation 

  • The act of cooking by steaming. 

  • The vapor formed when water changes from the liquid phase to the gas phase. 

How often have the words smelt and steam occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )