Real Dictionary

turbine
countable noun: A turbine is a machine or engine which uses a stream of air, gas, water, or steam to turn a wheel and produce power.

turbine in American English
an engine or motor having a drive shaft driven either by the impulse of steam, water, air, gas, etc. against the curved vanes of a wheel (or set of wheels) or by the reaction of fluid passing out through nozzles located around the wheel
noun: any of various machines having a rotor, usually with vanes or blades, driven by the pressure, momentum, or reactive thrust of a moving fluid, as steam, water, hot gases, or air, either occurring in the form of free jets or as a fluid passing through and e

turbine in British English
noun: any of various types of machine in which the kinetic energy of a moving fluid is converted into mechanical energy by causing a bladed rotor to rotate. The moving fluid may be water, steam, air, or combustion products of a fuel

turbine in Electrical Engineering
noun: A turbine is a machine that uses a moving stream of air, water, steam, or hot gas to turn a wheel to produce mechanical power.

turbine in Mechanical Engineering
noun: A turbine is a machine that works by the action of a fluid on a series of surfaces, usually a circular set of blades.