Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Piston |
PistonNoun1. Mechanical device that has a plunging or thrusting motion. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "piston" was first used: 1704. (references) |
Etymology: Piston \Pis"ton\, noun. [French expression piston; compare to Italian expression pistone piston, also pestone large pestle; all from Latin pinsere, pistum, to pound, to stamp. See Pestle, Pistil.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Electrical Engineering | A longitudinally movable obstacle which reflects essentially all of the incident energy. Source: European Union. (references) |
| A metal plate perpendicular to and movable along a waveguide, acting as a short circuit for high-frequency current. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Fine Arts | In Addition to the groups of nine -- centrally located under the manuals. . Source: European Union. (references) |
Mechanical Engineering | A disc like sliding piece receiving and transmitting motion from/ to a machine to/from fluid. Usually short cylinder(piston)inside a larger cylinder connected to the driving or driven machinery by a piston rod passing through the end of the larger cylinder. Source: European Union. (references) |
| Moveable piston used in a resonant cavity for tuning or for the introduction of attenuation(1). Source: European Union. (references) | |
Mining | The working part of a pump, hydraulic cylinder, or engine that moves back and forth in the cylinder; it is generally equipped with one or several rings or cups to control the passage of fluid. It ejects the fluid from the cylinder, as in a pump, or receives force from the fluid, which causesa reciprocating motion, as in an engine. (references) |
Public Administration | A plate movable along a waveguide, acting as a short-circuit for high-frequency currents. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A piston is a sliding plug that fits closely inside the bore of a cylinder. Its purpose is either to change the volume enclosed by the cylinder, or to exert a force on a fluid inside the cylinder. The piston is an important component of piston engines and hydraulic systems.In an Otto or Diesel engine, the concave head of the piston forms one wall of an expansion chamber inside the cylinder. The opposite wall, called the cylinder head, contains inlet and exhaust valves for gases.
As the piston moves inside the cylinder, it transforms the energy from the expansion of a burning gas (usually a mixture of petrol or diesel and air) into mechanical power (in the form of a reciprocating linear motion). From there the power is conveyed through a connecting-rod to a crankshaft, which transforms it into a rotary motion, which usually drives a gearbox.
A steam engine is another type of piston engine. Here, the piston is flat on both sides, not concave, and both sides of the cylinder are alternately filled with steam.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Piston."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The composer Walter Hamor Piston Jr. was born on January 20, 1894, in Rockland, Maine. His father's father, the sailor Antonio Pistone changed his name to Anthony Piston when he came to America from Genoa, Italy. In 1905, Walter Piston Sr. and his family moved to Boston. Walter Jr. trained as an engineer at the Mechanical Arts High School in Boston, but he was artistically inclined and upon graduating from there in 1912, proceeded to the Massachusetts Normal Arts School, majoring in painting, also studying architectural drawing and American history. There he met Kathryn Nason, and married her at an Unitarian church.With his brother Edward, Walter Piston Jr. took piano lessons from Harris Shaw (who was Virgil Thomson's organ teacher). During the 1910s Walter Piston made a living playing piano and violin in dance bands, and later on in the decade played violin in orchestras led by Georges Longy. With help from Shaw, Walter Piston was admitted to Harvard in 1920, where he studied counterpoint with Archibald Davison, canon and fugue with Clifford Heilman, advanced harmony with Edward Ballantine, composition and music history with Edward Burlingame Hill. Piston often worked as an assistant to the various music professors there, and conducted the student orchestra.
At about that time Piston joined the Navy Band and learned to play more instruments. He wanted to join the U.S. Navy as an officer, but was deemed more useful as a musician.
Upon graduating summa cum laude from Harvard, Piston was awarded a John Knowles Paine Traveling Fellowship, consisting of $1500 yearly for two to three years of travel abroad. He chose to go to Paris, living there from 1924 to 1926, but he also visited Italy. At the Ecole Nationale de Musique in Paris, Piston studied composition and counterpoint with Nadia Boulanger, composition with Paul Dukas and violin with George Enescu. His Three Pieces for Flute, Clarinet and Bassoon of 1925 made up his first published score.
He moved to Belmont after returning from Europe, and taught at Harvard from 1926 until retiring in 1960. Some of his students include Samuel Adler, Leroy Anderson, Leonard Bernstein, Elliott Carter, Irving Fine, John Harbison, Frederic Rzewski and Harold Shapero.
In 1936, the Columbia Broadcasting System commissioned six American composers (Aaron Copland, Louis Gruenberg, Howard Hanson, Roy Harris, William Grant Still and Piston) to write works for CBS radio stations to broadcast. Piston considered radio better suited to smaller orchestras, thus he wrote a Concertino for Piano and Chamber Orchestra. The following year Piston wrote his Symphony No. 1, which was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on April 8, 1938.
At the invitation of Arthur Fiedler, Piston wrote his most famous ballet, The Incredible Flutist, for Hans Wiener and the Boston Pops Orchestra.
Piston studied the twelve-tone techniques of Arnold Schoenberg, and wrote a work for organ using them, the Chromatic Study on the Name of Bach.
During World War II, Piston was an air raid warden in Belmont, and he wrote patriotic fanfares and other such works.
In 1943, the Alice M. Ditson fund of Columbia University commissioned Piston's Symphony No. 2, which was premiered by the National Symphony Orchestra on March 5, 1944 and was awared a prize by the New York Music Critics' Circle. His next symphony, Symphony No. 3 earned a Pulitzer Prize, as did his Symphony No. 7.
Piston wrote three books, Counterpoint, Orchestration and Harmony. The last of these went through four editions, was translated to several languages, and even today is useful to teachers and students of harmony. Piston's handwriting was so neat that almost all his orchestral scores were published as facsimiles of his original scores, and he also wrote the musical examples in the textbooks he authored.
In his final years, Piston was debilitated by diabetes, and his vision and hearing suffered. His wife died in 1976, and he died later that same year on November 12, of a heart attack, in Belmont, Massachusetts. He was cremated, and his ashes were dispersed at Mt. Auburn Cemetery.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Walter Piston."
Synonym: PistonSynonym: plunger (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Stopper | Noun: stopper, stopple; plug, cork, bung, spike, spill, tap; rammer; ram, ramrod; piston; stop-gap; wadding, stuffing, padding, stopping, dossil, pledget, tompion, tourniquet. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Title | ||
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Music |
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Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Deploying 20' piston corer and heat probe OCEANOGRAPHER around the world cruise. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | Piston corers ready for deployment on Scripps research ship MELVILLE. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |
 | Figure 43. A piston pipette used in determining the amount of plankton in a given volume of water. Used by Victor Hensen in 1887. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |  | Figure 10. Piston bottle for acquiring water from near the bottom. The inventor is unknown. However, such a bottle was constructed for the Commission of Kiel in 1870. This instrument was made by Max Marx in about 1913. Left: descending. Right: ascending. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |
 | Figure 54. Richter mounting with messenger and pump brake for slowing reversing action. With the earlier models used by Doflein, the mounting would flop over too quickly and jar the mercury column sufficiently to cause its separation. To slow down the reversing motion, a piston pump mechanism was installed on the mounting. This mounting was employed by Doflein off the coast of Japan in 1904. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | He loosened the bearing bolts and pulled out the piston. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | SPD manufactures and sells piston rings and cylinder liners. (references) | |
Thompson, also an Argentine company, manufactures and distributes chassis parts and piston rings. (references) | ||
The plants supply piston rings to Ford, General Motors, MWM Diesel Engines, Maxion Engines, Mercedes Benz and Volvo in Brazil, and Renault, Peugeot and Perkins in Argentina. (references) | ||
Economic History | Indonesia | Imports from U.S. suppliers are particularly strong in the following areas: parts of turbo-jets or turbo propellers, other for aircraft engines, reaction engines other than turbo-jets for aircraft engines, aircraft electrical wiring sets, other parts, spark ignition internal combustion piston of engines for aircraft. (references) |
Ecuador | Transmission belts, rubber pneumatic tires, replacement gasoline engines, replacement diesel engines, engine blocks and piston heads, piston rods, carburetors, and valves, spark plugs, fuel injection pumps, air conditioner compressors, ball bearings, parts for trailers and semi-trailers and electric lighting equipment are considered best prospect products in this sector. (references) | |
Australia | The Australian automotive market provides excellent opportunities for U.S. suppliers of the following: compression-ignition internal combustion piston engines, carburetors, piston rings, fuel injection products, transmission and ignition products, lubricants and fuel pumps, cruise controls, accessories and car care products, body repair kits and products, and automotive tools. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Piston" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Piston" is used about 174 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 174 | 23,577 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name |
| Japan | Nippon Piston Ring Co Ltd |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "piston": angled piston pump ♦ axial piston pump ♦ choke piston ♦ damped piston ♦ hydraulic piston ♦ piston chamber ♦ piston cylinder ♦ piston displacement ♦ piston engine ♦ piston head ♦ piston pin ♦ piston plunger ♦ piston ring ♦ piston rod ♦ piston seal ♦ piston stroke ♦ piston travel ♦ piston valve ♦ radial piston pump ♦ the slide of a piston ♦ Trunk piston. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "piston": piston-and-cylinder, piston-covered, piston-engine, piston-engined, piston-engined aircraft, piston-engines, piston-like, piston-powered, piston-stroke, piston-trained, piston-type. | |
Ending with "piston": Cornet-a-piston, Cornets-a-piston, multiple-piston. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
detroit piston | 1,137 | piston slap | 25 |
piston | 617 | badger piston | 24 |
je piston | 212 | mahle piston | 24 |
wiseco piston | 138 | diamond piston | 24 |
piston ring | 126 | piston pump rotary small | 24 |
piston trw | 91 | kb piston | 23 |
exhaust piston quick type valve | 78 | honda piston | 22 |
piston pro speed | 77 | gm piston slap | 21 |
ross piston | 68 | racing piston | 21 |
keith black piston | 64 | performance piston | 21 |
rotary piston vacuum pump | 53 | piston coating | 20 |
piston pump | 47 | probe piston | 20 |
weisco piston | 42 | cp piston | 20 |
srp piston | 42 | e j piston | 19 |
forged piston | 40 | piston seal | 18 |
arias piston | 36 | head piston | 18 |
motorcycle piston | 36 | hastings piston ring | 17 |
piston wiesco | 31 | fire piston | 17 |
engine piston | 29 | piston compressor | 16 |
piston wisco | 25 | piston filler | 15 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "piston"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | piston (sucker, valve). (various references) | |
Arabic | كباس (press stud, snap, stapler), مكبس (compress, compressor, press), البستون. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | бутало (bucket, forcer, sucker), пистон (plunger, sucker). (various references) | |
Chinese | 活塞 (valve). (various references) | |
Czech | píst. (various references) | |
Danish | stempel (adjustable short circuit, die-stamped marking, male plug, matrix, plunger, plunger tip, stamp, stamper). (various references) | |
Dutch | zuiger (aspirator, exhauster, plunger, plunger tip, sea snail, swab). (various references) | |
Esperanto | piŝto. (various references) | |
Farsi | پیستون , میله متحرک , سنبه (Ramrod). (various references) | |
Finnish | mäntä (plunger). (various references) | |
French | piston (pig). (various references) | |
German | kolben (beak, bulb, butt, cob, conk, ear, flask, forcer, hooter, pistons, prick, retort, spadices, spadix, tool). (various references) | |
Greek | έμβολο (plug, plunger, ram, rammer). (various references) | |
Hebrew | שסתום (stopcock, valve), בוכ " (cylinder, pestle). (various references) | |
Hungarian | dugattyú (ram, sucker), csappantyú (catch, flap). (various references) | |
Indonesian | seher. (various references) | |
Italian | stantuffo (plunger), pistone (plunger, sucker). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | "サの斜" (Leaning Tower of Pisa, pidgin English, piste, pistol, piston corer, pizza, pizza pie, plunger). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | "ストン (plunger). (various references) | |
Korean | "스톤. (various references) | |
Manx | sooaghan. (various references) | |
Norwegian | stempel. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | istonpay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | pistão (forcer), êmbolo (forcer). (various references) | |
Romanian | poanson (die, piercer, style), piston (bucket, key-bugle). (various references) | |
Russian | поршневой, поршень поршневой, поршень (forcer). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | zalistak (flap, stopple, valve), klipni, klip (cob, plunger). (various references) | |
Spanish | pistón (key), émbolo (plunger). (various references) | |
Swedish | kolv (butt, flask). (various references) | |
Turkish | piston. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | пістон (cap, primer), поршень (forcer). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Italian | 900-Modern | pistone. (various references) |
| Middle French | 1400-1600 | piston. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Proverbs Chapter 20, Verse 6 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Mega anqrwpoV kai timion anhr elehmwn andra de piston ergon eurein |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Multi homines misericordes vocantur virum autem fidelem quis inveniet |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | Manye men merciful ben clepid; a feithful man forsothe who shal finde? |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | Most men make no secret of their kind acts: but where is a man of good faith to be seen? |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Proverbs Chapter 20, Verse 6 |
| Cebuano | ¶ Ang kadaghanan sa mga tawo magabutyag sa tagsatagsa sa iyang kaugalingong kalolot; Apan sa usa ka matinumanon nga tawo kinsay makakaplag kaniya? |
| Chinese | 人 多 述 說 自 己 的 仁 慈 ． 但 信 人 誰 能 遇 著 呢 。 |
| Croatian | Mnogi se naziva dobrim èovjekom, ali tko æe naæi vjerna èovjeka? |
| Danish | Mangen kaldes en velvillig Mand, men hvem kan finde en trofast Mand? |
| Dutch | Elk van de menigte der mensen roept zijn weldadigheid uit; maar wie zal een recht trouwen man vinden? |
| Finnish | Monet huutavat hyvyyttänsä kukin, mutta kuka löytää luotettavan miehen? |
| French | Beaucoup de gens proclament leur bonté; Mais un homme fidèle, qui le trouvera? |
| German | Viele Menschen werden fromm gerühmt; aber wer will finden einen, der rechtschaffen fromm sei? |
| Haitian Creole | ¶ Anpil moun ap mache di jan yo se moun serye. Men, ou pa fasil jwenn yon moun ou ka fè konfyans. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Banyak orang mengaku dirinya adalah kawan, tetapi yang betul-betul setia, sukar ditemukan. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Berapa banyak orang sekalipun, maka masing-masingnya memuji kebajikannya sendiri, tetapi seorang yang setiawan betul, siapa gerangan boleh mendapat dia? |
| Italian | Molti si proclamano gente per bene, ma una persona fidata chi la trova? |
| Korean | 많 은 사 람 은 각 기 자 기 의 인 자 함 을 자 랑 하 나 니 충 성 된 자 를 누 가 만 수 있 으 랴 |
| Maori | ¶ Ko ta te tini o te tangata he kauwhau i tona atawhai ake; ko wai ia e kite i te tangata pono? |
| Norwegian | Mange mennesker roper høit, hver om sin kjærlighet; men hvem finner vel en trofast mann? |
| Rumanian | Mulyi oameni kwi trkmbiyeazq bunqtatea; dar cine poate gqsi un om credincios? - |
| Russian | нОПЗЙЕ ИЧБМСФ ЮЕМПЧЕЛБ ЪБ НЙМПУЕТ"ЙЕ, ОП ТБЧ"ЙЧПЗП ЮЕМПЧЕЛБ ЛФП ОБИП"ЙФ? |
| Spanish | Muchos hombres proclaman su propia bondad; pero un hombre fiel, ¿quién lo hallará? |
| Swedish | Många finnas, som ropa ut var och en sin barmhärtighet; men vem kan finna en man som är att lita på? |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "piston": pistons. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "piston": multipiston. (additional references) | |
| |
"Piston" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Aiston, apastron, apisto, biston, Fiston, ipsden, isto, Istok, liston, paston, Paxstone, Pestano, Piasten, Pichon, pieton, Pilsdon, Pipson, pison, Pisoni, pisson, Pistia, pistou, pitsan, Pixton, Plinston, postdoc, posto, Powton, Pustyn, pyson, pyston. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "piston" (pronounced pi"stun) |
| 4 | -s t u n | Boston, capstan, clandestine, intestine, predestine, Sexton, teston, tungsten. |
| 3 | -t u n | fatten, actin, badminton, batten, beaten, begotten, biotin, bitten, boughten, Bouton, brighten, bulletin, Burton, button, Canton, captain, carton, certain, charlatan, chieftain, cosmopolitan, cotton, craton, curtain, Dalton, dentin, dishearten, eaten, enlighten, exoskeleton, flatten, forgotten, fountain, frighten, frostbitten, gelatin, gluten, gotten, guncotton, handwritten, hearten, heighten, highfalutin, intermountain, jetton, kindergarten, kitten, lighten, litten, lovastatin, Manhattan, marten, Martin, Melton, metropolitan, misbegotten, mitten, molten, mountain, mutton, nekton, Newton, overwritten, Parton, Patten, phytoplankton, plankton, plantain, platen, pleasing, ponton, prolactin, puritan, rewritten, rotten, Samaritan, satin, Seton, shorten, Singleton, skeleton, smitten, spartan, straighten, sultan, sweeten, tartan, threaten, tighten, Titan, Triton, typewritten, unbeaten, unbutton, uncertain, underwritten, unwritten, verboten, wanton, wheaten, whiten, written. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: pinots, pintos, pitons, points, postin, spinto. | |
| Words within the letters "i-n-o-p-s-t" | |
-1 letter: opsin, pinot, pinto, pints, pions, piton, point, posit, topis. | |
-2 letters: into, ions, nips, nits, opts, pins, pint, pion, piso, pits, pois, pons, post, pots, snip, snit, snot, spin, spit, spot, stop, tins, tips, tons, topi, tops. | |
-3 letters: ins, ion, its, nip, nit, nos, not, ons, ops, opt, pin, pis, pit, poi, pot, psi. | |
| Words containing the letters "i-n-o-p-s-t" | |
+1 letter: inkpots, options, pintoes, pistons, pointes, pontils, posting, postins, potions, spinout, spintos, stoping, topspin, tropins. | |
+2 letters: appoints, atropins, captions, diplonts, kingpost, maintops, mispoint, nepotism, nepotist, opuntias, pactions, phoniest, pimentos, pinitols, pintados, pintanos, pointers, pontiffs, porniest, portions, positing, position, positron, postings, potlines, proteins, ptomains, saponite, satinpod, signpost, slipknot, sopiting, sorption, spinouts, spittoon, sporting, spotting, spouting, stinkpot, stomping, stooping, stopping, synoptic, tampions, tompions, toplines, toppings, topspins, township, tropines, unspoilt, utopians. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Company Usage 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Bible Trace 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
