steamroll

English

Etymology

From steam +‎ roll.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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• IPA^(key): /ˈstiːmˌɹoʊl/

Verb

steamroll (third-person singular simple present steamrolls, present participle steamrolling, simple past and past participle steamrolled)

1. To flatten, as if with a steamroller.
   • 1952 September, A. E. C. Dent, “Early G.W.R. Road Services”, in Railway Magazine, page 631:

     The service had one small break when it was suspended between October, 1904, and April, 1905, owing to the refusal of the Helston Rural District Council to steam roll the road. At this time there was no steam roller in use anywhere west of Plymouth, and the railway company loaned one of its steam rollers to the Cornwall County Council, to secure an improvement in the road conditions.

2. (figurative) To ruthlessly crush or overwhelm.

   I tried to participate in a sports tournament, but got steamrolled by the better players there.

   • 2019, John O’Connell, chapter 8, in Bowie's Bookshelf, →ISBN:

     In The Trial of Henry Kissinger the late British journalist, best known for his Vanity Fair columns, his deliberately provocative opinion that women aren’t funny and his penchant for booze and fags, steamrolls the former US National Security Advisor and Secretary of State for Presidents Nixon and Ford with a polemical brilliance so assured it cancels out the occasional flashes of arrogance and pomposity.

Translations

to flatten

• Catalan: aplanar (ca)
• Dutch: walsen (nl)
• Estonian: tasandama, siluma
• Finnish: jyrätä (fi)
• German: plattwalzen, plattmachen (de), niederwalzen (de)
• Spanish: pasar el rodillo

to crush ruthlessly

• Catalan: esclafar (ca)
• Estonian: lömastama
• Finnish: jyrätä (fi)
• German: plattmachen (de)

Anagrams

• Martellos, martellos