steam punk

Noun

steampunk (countable and uncountable, plural steampunks)

1. (uncountable) 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.1987 May, James Blaylock, Locus, volume 20, number 5 (#316 overall), page 57
2. (countable) A writer of steampunk fiction.
   • Personally, I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for Powers, [James] Blaylock and myself. Something based on the appropriate technology of the era; like steam-punks, perhaps...1987 April, Kevin Wayne Jeter, “[Untitled letter]”, in Locus, volume 20, number 4 (#315 overall), archived from the original on 30 Aug 2014, page 57
3. (countable) 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.2009 September, Klaude Davenport, “An interview with Emmett and Klaude Davenport of the Clockwork Cabaret”, in Exhibition Hall, number 1, page 6

See all 4 meanings of steampunk