Plain English Meaning

It's a jet engine that, instead of pushing the aircraft forward with its exhaust, uses the spinning power inside the engine to turn a propeller. The propeller does almost all the work of moving the airplane.

Full Definition

An aircraft engine that uses a gas turbine to drive a propeller through a reduction gearbox. The turbine extracts energy from the hot, expanding gases produced by burning fuel and uses most of that energy to spin the propeller, which produces the majority of the thrust. A small amount of residual thrust comes from the exhaust gases.

Context Anchor

Seen in discussions of propeller control, , shutdown, and on turbine-powered propeller airplanes.