turbine
UK /ˈtɜː.baɪn/ · US /ˈtɝ.baɪn/ noun
Forms turbines
- noun Any of various rotary machines that use the kinetic energy of a continuous stream of fluid (a liquid or a gas) to turn a shaft.
Etymology
Borrowed from French turbine, from Latin turbō, turbinem (“tornado, whirlwind; crowd”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A water wheel, commonly horizontal, variously constructed, but usually having a series of curved floats or buckets, against which the water acts by its impulse or reaction in flowing either outward from a central chamber, inward from an external casing, or from above downward, etc.; --also called turbine wheel.
Etymology [L. turbo, -inis, that which spins or whirls round, whirl.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “turbine”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details