rotary engine
nounDefinition of rotary engine
1
: any of various engines (such as a turbine) in which power is applied to vanes or similar parts constrained to move in a circular path
2
: a radial engine in which the cylinders revolve about a stationary crankshaft
Examples of rotary engine in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Imagine triangles spinning around a shower curtain rod inside a beer keg—that is an elemental description of the screaming Wankel rotary engine. — Matthew Jancer, Popular Mechanics, "The Rhombus Rotary Engine: Can a Quirky New Design Top the Famous Wankel?," 18 Jan. 2019 When looking at the surveys, Julie found that one-fifth of the rotary engines on a Mazda R100 were failing somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 miles. — Aditi Shrikant, Vox, "How James David Power III created the only car ranking company you’ve ever heard of.," 27 Nov. 2018 By the very nature of its design, a rotary engine is lighter, less complex, and higher-revving than a typical box of pistons. — Blake Z. Rong, Popular Mechanics, "The Evolution of the Combustion Engine," 5 June 2018 The 2016 RX-Vision concept—unveiled at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show—gave credence to a salacious rumor: that a dedicated band of engineers with nothing to lose are still developing the next great rotary engine, somewhere in a Hiroshima skunkworks. — Blake Z. Rong, Popular Mechanics, "The Evolution of the Combustion Engine," 5 June 2018 Instead, a light, super-quick response rotary engine generates the power that is converted into electricity by the four motors in real-time. — Author: Elwood Brehmer, Anchorage Daily News, "Startup plans to revolutionize the air cargo industry, starting with Alaska," 15 June 2018 Mazda hasn't announced any specific products featuring a rotary engine at this time. — Matthew Jancer, Popular Mechanics, "Why Car Lovers Are So Mad for Mazda’s Rotary Engine Revival," 21 May 2018 Felix Wankel himself was a German engineer who came up with his version of a rotary engine in the 1920s. — Matthew Jancer, Popular Mechanics, "Why Car Lovers Are So Mad for Mazda’s Rotary Engine Revival," 21 May 2018 There, a 1910 Humber-Sommer biplane with a 50hp rotary engine carried 6,500 letters about 8.1 miles. — Eric Tegler, Popular Mechanics, "'A Suicide Club': How WWI Pilots Pioneered the Age of Airmail," 9 May 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'rotary engine.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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