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Step   /stɛp/   Listen
noun
Step  n.  
1.
An advance or movement made by one removal of the foot; a pace.
2.
A rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a round of a ladder. "The breadth of every single step or stair should be never less than one foot."
3.
The space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running; as, one step is generally about three feet, but may be more or less. Used also figuratively of any kind of progress; as, he improved step by step, or by steps. "To derive two or three general principles of motion from phenomena, and afterwards to tell us how the properties and actions of all corporeal things follow from those manifest principles, would be a very great step in philosophy."
4.
A small space or distance; as, it is but a step.
5.
A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track.
6.
Gait; manner of walking; as, the approach of a man is often known by his step.
7.
Proceeding; measure; action; an act. "The reputation of a man depends on the first steps he makes in the world." "Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day, Live till to-morrow, will have passed away." "I have lately taken steps... to relieve the old gentleman's distresses."
8.
pl. Walk; passage. "Conduct my steps to find the fatal tree."
9.
pl. A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position.
10.
(Naut.) In general, a framing in wood or iron which is intended to receive an upright shaft; specif., a block of wood, or a solid platform upon the keelson, supporting the heel of the mast.
11.
(Mach.)
(a)
One of a series of offsets, or parts, resembling the steps of stairs, as one of the series of parts of a cone pulley on which the belt runs.
(b)
A bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves.
12.
(Mus.) The intervak between two contiguous degrees of the csale. Note: The word tone is often used as the name of this interval; but there is evident incongruity in using tone for indicating the interval between tones. As the word scale is derived from the Italian scala, a ladder, the intervals may well be called steps.
13.
(Kinematics) A change of position effected by a motion of translation.
14.
(Fives) At Eton College, England, a shallow step dividing the court into an inner and an outer portion.
Back step, Half step, etc. See under Back, Half, etc.
Step grate, a form of grate for holding fuel, in which the bars rise above one another in the manner of steps.
To take steps, to take action; to move in a matter.


verb
Step  v. t.  
1.
To set, as the foot.
2.
(Naut.) To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect.
To step off, to measure by steps, or paces; hence, to divide, as a space, or to form a series of marks, by successive measurements, as with dividers.


Step  v. i.  (past & past part. stepped; pres. part. stepping)  
1.
To move the foot in walking; to advance or recede by raising and moving one of the feet to another resting place, or by moving both feet in succession.
2.
To walk; to go on foot; esp., to walk a little distance; as, to step to one of the neighbors.
3.
To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely. "Home the swain retreats, His flock before him stepping to the fold."
4.
Fig.: To move mentally; to go in imagination. "They are stepping almost three thousand years back into the remotest antiquity."
To step aside, to walk a little distance from the rest; to retire from company.
To step forth, to move or come forth.
To step in or To step into.
(a)
To walk or advance into a place or state, or to advance suddenly in. "Whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had."
(b)
To enter for a short time; as, I just stepped into the house.
(c)
To obtain possession without trouble; to enter upon easily or suddenly; as, to step into an estate.
To step out.
(a)
(Mil.) To increase the length, but not the rapidity, of the step, extending it to thirty-tree inches.
(b)
To go out for a short distance or a short time.
To step short (Mil.), to diminish the length or rapidity of the step according to the established rules.


prefix
Step-  pref.  A prefix used before father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, child, etc., to indicate that the person thus spoken of is not a blood relative, but is a relative by the marriage of a parent; as, a stepmother to X is the wife of the father of X, married by him after the death of the mother of X. See Stepchild, Stepdaughter, Stepson, etc.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Step" Quotes from Famous Books



... in the dry climate retains luster. The women wear bracelets and leglets, and iron beads from the size of a pea to that of a potato. They carry weights up to thirty-five pounds and are forced to walk with a slow, dragging step which is considered aristocratic. Iron is rare and worth more than silver.[394] Livingstone says that in Balonda poorer people imitate the step of those who carry big weights of ornament, although they are wearing but a few ounces.[395] ...
— Folkways - A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals • William Graham Sumner
... he is often caught of nine or ten pounds weight. Delighting in the shallows, he lies among the weeds at the bottom, to which he always retreats when disturbed. Aware of his habits, the fisherman walks knee-deep in the water, and at every step he plunges the broad end of the basket quickly to the bottom. He immediately feels the fish strike against the sides, and putting his hand down through the aperture in the top of the basket he captures him, and deposits him in a ...
— The Rifle and The Hound in Ceylon • Samuel White Baker
... the dark, towards the texas, feeling our way slow with our feet, and spreading our hands out to fend off the guys, for it was so dark we couldn't see no sign of them. Pretty soon we struck the forward end of the skylight, and clumb on to it; and the next step fetched us in front of the captain's door, which was open, and by Jimminy, away down through the texas-hall we see a light! and all in the same second we seem to ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... containing in the whole by estimation 2,000 acres more or less." Chipman adds, "no misrepresentation can well be supposed to have taken place at the time of passing this Grant when the lands upon the river St. Johns were considered as of very little value and there could be no inducement to such a step." ...
— Glimpses of the Past - History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784 • W. O. Raymond
... cheered him as he went, but the Turks, too, had witnessed the deed, and more than one musket was vengefully aimed at the slayer of the Paynim Goliath. One—one, alas! has reached the mark. It has pierced his foot, and he is no longer in a condition to make another step. Heaven be praised that the Turks have taken flight, and that the Christians have possessed themselves of the trench! Eugene has the comfort of knowing that he will not he a captive, and this assurance gives him strength to drag himself within speaking distance ...
— Prince Eugene and His Times • L. Muhlbach


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