steampunk

noun
/ˈstiːm.pʌŋk/US

Etymology

From steam + -punk, by analogy with cyberpunk, coined by science-fiction writer Kevin Wayne Jeter (born 1950) in a 1987 letter to the magazine Locus in response to a review of his book Infernal Devices published the same year (see the quotation below).

  1. derived from *dʰewh₂-
  2. inherited from *staumaz
  3. inherited from stēam
  4. inherited from steem
  5. suffixed as steampunk — “steam + punk

Definitions

  1. A subgenre of science fiction that depicts advanced technology combined with Victorian…

    A subgenre of science fiction that depicts advanced technology combined with Victorian style and aesthetics, such as steam-powered machines and vehicles, visible gears and screws and people dressed in 19th-century attires.

    • There's railroad trains, a lot of steam-driven stuff, but that's about it. More ‘steam punk’, I suppose.
    • The [Arboath North Signal Box] locking room's collection of chains, pulleys and wires resembles the inside of a piano, stretching to the 72-levered frame above. Lovers of steampunk will find it especially pleasing.
  2. A writer of steampunk fiction.

  3. A person cosplaying as a steampunk character.

    • It wound up being an overwhelmingly positive experience that made me appreciate the steampunks around me even more.
  4. + 1 more definition
    1. To depict in a steampunk manner.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for steampunk. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA