internal combustion engine

Noun

internal combustion engine (plural internal combustion engines)

1. A piston or a rotary heat engine directly powered by the products of intermittent combustion of a fuel.
2. A heat engine in which intermittent or the continuous burning of a fuel takes place inside a combustion chamber; the resulting pressurized gas acts directly on the engine to do useful work, such as a piston engine, gas turbine, jet engine or rocket.

Further reading

• internal combustion engine on Wikipedia.Wikipedia