/terr"bin, -buyn/ , n.
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 entirely filling a housing around the rotor. Cf. impulse turbine, reaction turbine .
[ 1815-25; turbin-, s. of turbo something that spins, e.g., top, spindle, whirlwind; akin to TURBID ]