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piston

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piston

Any disc or cylinder, circular in cross-section, used in reciprocating engines (steam, petrol, diesel oil) to harness power. Pistons are driven up and down in cylinders by expanding steam or hot gases. They pass on their motion via a connecting rod and crank to a crankshaft, which turns the driving wheels. In a pump or compressor, the role of the piston is reversed, being used to move gases and liquids. See also internal-combustion engine.

piston

On a brass musical instrument, a valve which alters the length of tubing through which air vibrates, changing the pitch. The first valve lowers the pitch a whole tone, the second a semitone, the third three semitones. Most orchestral brass instruments today employ three valves, but sometimes a fourth is added.



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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye, and vast piles of building full of windows where there was a rattling and a trembling all day long, and where the piston of the steam-engine worked monotonously up and down, like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness.
Hard Times by Dickens, Charles View in context
The slender expressive fingers, forever active, for- ever striving to conceal themselves in his pockets or behind his back, came forth and became the piston rods of his machinery of expression.
Winesberg, Ohio by Anderson, Sherwood View in context
Finally he thrust the sharp point home, pressed down the tiny piston, and sank back into the velvet-lined arm-chair with a long sigh of satisfaction.
Sign of the Four by Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan View in context
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