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/dˈɑŋki ˈɛndʒən/ Listen

noun

Donkey n. (pl. donkeys)

An ass; or (less frequently) a mule.

A stupid or obstinate fellow; an ass.

Donkey engine, a small auxiliary engine not used for propelling, but for pumping water into the boilers, raising heavy weights, and like purposes.

Donkey pump, a steam pump for feeding boilers, extinguishing fire, etc.; usually an auxiliary.

Donkey's eye (Bot.), the large round seed of the Mucuna pruriens, a tropical leguminous plant.

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Etymology of 'Donkey engine'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Donkey engine" Quotes from Famous Books

... by the mates, closed the doors, and hoped for the best. Slept a lot that day and night; and at eight this morning slacked off my spanker and main sheets, checked in my foreyard and topsail by taking the the braces to the donkey engine, and ...

— Cappy Ricks Retires • Peter B. Kyne

... a locomotive," said a boy of the donkey engine; "it whistled like the steam-cars, but it didn't ...

— How to Succeed - or, Stepping-Stones to Fame and Fortune • Orison Swett Marden

... dividing themselves into different gangs of men, all hands worked with a will, throwing the cargo overboard to lighten the vessel, and pumping with all their energies—their shouts ringing out bravely as they worked to get out the water. The donkey engine too was set at work, and steam fought storm and sea, but this time in vain. After several hours' hard work, the engineer came to the captain and lifeboatmen and said, 'It's all up; the water's coming in as fast as we pump it out. Come ...

— Heroes of the Goodwin Sands • Thomas Stanley Treanor

... logger's waste with practically no labor. To the task of disposing of the remaining logs and stumps he will bring modern tools and methods into action. The axe and shovel and hand lever have given place to gunpowder, the donkey engine, derrick and winch. Stump powder puts all the big stumps into pieces easily. The modern stump-puller lifts out the smaller stumps with ease. The donkey engine and derrick pull together and pile the stumps and logs into great heaps, and once more the friendly fire helps out; and while ...

— A Review of the Resources and Industries of the State of Washington, 1909 • Ithamar Howell

... the donkey engine and the rattle of a steel cable on the hoisting-drum proclaimed the fact that the Kincaid's anchor was being raised, and a moment later the waiter heard the propellers revolving, and slowly the little steamer moved away from him out ...

— The Beasts of Tarzan • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... cedar. The Douglas fir covered the rocky slopes and the cedar lined the gut of a deep hollow which split the limit midway. It was classed as a fair logging chance, since from that corner which dipped into the flats of the Toba a donkey engine with its mile-long arm of steel cable could snatch the logs down to the river, whence they would be floated to the sea and ...

— The Hidden Places • Bertrand W. Sinclair