under one's own steam

under one's own steam idiom
Independently, without help, as in For two years I published the quarterly newsletter under my own steam. This expression uses steam in the sense of “driving power,” as in a steam engine. [Early 1900s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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