Definition of "steam bath" []

• The act of bathing through exposure to steam, which induces perspiration. (noun)
• A room or building equipped to provide bathing with steam. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The Indians of the Misqually agency commonly use a steam bath in the very rare cases of retention."
• "But in the midst of a vast amount of sheer nonsense they possess some good practical ideas, such as the buffalo hair pessary worn with benefit by many women, the hot stone in labor, which is sometimes modified into a steam bath by covering the shelter tightly with skins and pouring water on the stone."
• "Many peoples have a superstitious faith in the use of heat immediately after confinement, some instances of which I have already cited: so among the Rouconyennes a steam bath is taken in a hammock under which a large stone heated by the fire is placed; upon this water is thrown."