View synonyms for piston

piston

[ pis-tuhn ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a disk or cylindrical part tightly fitting and moving within a cylinder, either to compress or move a fluid collected in the cylinder, as air or water, or to transform energy imparted by a fluid entering or expanding inside the cylinder, as compressed air, explosive gases, or steam, into a rectilinear motion usually transformed into rotary motion by means of a connecting rod.
a pumplike valve used to change the pitch in a cornet or the like.

Piston

[ pis-tuhn ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

Walter, 1894–1976, U.S. composer.

piston

/ ˈpɪstən /

noun

a disc or cylindrical part that slides to and fro in a hollow cylinder. In an internal-combustion engine it is forced to move by the expanding gases in the cylinder head and is attached by a pivoted connecting rod to a crankshaft or flywheel, thus converting reciprocating motion into rotation

piston

/ pĭs′tən /

A solid cylinder or disk that fits snugly into a hollow cylinder and moves back and forth under the pressure of a fluid (typically a hot gas formed by combustion, as in many engines), or moves or compresses a fluid, as in a pump or compressor.

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Other Words From

piston·like adjective
sub·piston noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of piston¹

First recorded in 1695–1705; from French, from Italian pistone “piston,” a learned alteration of pestone “large pestle,” equivalent to pest(are) “to pound” (variant of Medieval Latin pistare, derivative of Latin pīstus, past participle of pīnsere “to pound, crush”) + -one augmentative suffix

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Word History and Origins

Origin of piston¹

C18: via French from Old Italian pistone, from pistare to pound, grind, from Latin pinsere to crush, beat

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