propeller
nounA device for propelling an aircraft or boat, consisting of a shaft with radiating blades that are placed so as to thrust air or water in a desired direction when spinning.
nounIn electricity, in the tangential system of traction, the moving part of the system, corresponding to the rotor of an alternator, which is drawn along by the inductive action of the stator-coils between the track and thus affords motive power for the attached cars.
nounOne who or that which propels; in marine engineering, broadly, any contrivance or appliance, as a sail, paddle, oar, paddle-wheel, screw, etc., used for moving vessels floating upon the surface of water, or under the surface; in a more restricted and more generally accepted sense, any instrument or appliance, and especially a screw, used for marine propulsion and actuated by machinery (usually a steam-engine called a marine engine) carried by the vessel so propelled.
nounA boat or vessel driven by a propeller.
nounIn fishing, a kind of trolling-hook with artificial bait, fitted with wings or flanges to make it spin in the water; a spinning-bait.
nounSee the qualifying words.
nounOne who, or that which, propels.
nounA contrivance for propelling a steam vessel, usually consisting of a screw placed in the stern under water, and made to revolve by an engine; a propeller wheel.
nounA steamboat thus propelled; a screw steamer.
nounthe screw, usually having two or more blades, used in propelling a vessel.
