A steamer can refer to several different things, depending on the context. Here are some of the most common meanings:

• Food Steamer: A small kitchen appliance used to cook or prepare various foods with steam heat by means of holding the food in a closed vessel reducing steam escape. This manner of cooking is called steaming. Food steamers have been used for centuries, with the ancient Chinese using pottery steamers to cook food.

• Clothes Steamer: A device that uses hot steam to take the wrinkles out of clothing. There are two main components to a clothes steamer: a container and a warmer. The container stores water and the warmer boils the water so that it comes out as hot steam. Clothes steamers are a great option if you live in a small space and don’t have room to store a bigger standing steamer or an ironing board.

• Steamship: A vessel in which articles are subjected to steam. Steamships were once a common mode of transportation, but have largely been replaced by other forms of transportation.

• Hot Milk-Based Drink: A hot milk-based drink thats flavored and sweetened with syrup. This basic steamer recipe will show you how easy it is to make at home. You can create steamers in many flavors and use non-dairy milk to create soy or other vegan steamers.

• Cookware: A type of cookware consisting of inserts or layers with perforations in the bottom, that are assembled together and used to cook food with the use of steam. A variety of kitchen cookware is commonly used for this process, such as aluminum or stainless steel single layer steamer pots, stacked steamers, bamboo steamers, steamer inserts, and steamer baskets to hold the food and position it above the steaming water.

• Handheld Steamer: A smaller version of a clothing steamer, which is an appliance that quickly omits wrinkles and creases from clothing using high temperatures of steam. Handheld steamers are on the smaller side, they usually don’t come with all of the features of larger clothing steamers, but they are easy to use and portable.

In summary, a steamer can refer to a kitchen appliance used to cook food with steam heat, a device used to remove wrinkles from clothing, a vessel in which articles are subjected to steam, a hot milk-based drink, a type of cookware, or a smaller version of a clothing steamer.