step
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: arts
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Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *stapjaną
Proto-West Germanic *stappjan
Old English stæppan
Middle English steppen
English step
From Middle English steppen, from Old English steppan (“to step, go, proceed, advance”), stepe (“step”), from Proto-West Germanic *stappjan, from Proto-Germanic *stapjaną (“to step”), *stapiz (“step”), from Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ- (“to support, stomp, curse, be amazed”).
Cognate with West Frisian stappe (“to step”), North Frisian stape (“to walk, trudge”), Dutch stappen (“to step, walk”), Walloon steper (“to walk away, leave”), German stapfen (“to trudge, stomp, plod”) and further to Slavic Polish stąpać (“to stomp, stamp, step, tread”), Russian ступать (stupatʹ) and Polish stopień (“step, stair, rung, degree”), Russian степень (stepenʹ). Related to stamp, stomp.
Inflected forms:
form: steps
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: steps
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: stepping
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: stepped
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: stepped
pos: verb
tags: past
form: stept
pos: verb
tags: dated
participle
past
form: stept
pos: verb
tags: dated
past
form: stope
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
participle
past
form: stope
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
past
Senses:
gloss: An advance or movement made from one foot to the other; a pace.
pos: noun
examples: Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
gloss: A rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a rung of a ladder.
pos: noun
examples: The breadth of every single step or stair should be never less than one foot.
One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.
Through the open front door ran Jessamy, down the steps to where Kitto was sitting at the bottom with the pram beside him.
gloss: The part of a spade, digging stick or similar tool that a digger's foot rests against and presses on when digging; an ear, a foot-rest.
pos: noun
gloss: The button joining a glass's stem to its foot.
pos: noun
gloss: A distinct part of a process; stage; phase.
pos: noun
examples: He improved step by step, or by steps.
The first step is to find a job.
gloss: A running board where passengers step to get on and off the bus.
pos: noun
examples: The driver must have a clear view of the step in order to prevent accidents.
gloss: The space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running.
pos: noun
examples: One step is generally about three feet, but may be more or less.
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.
gloss: A small space or distance.
pos: noun
examples: It is but a step.
gloss: A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track.
pos: noun
gloss: A gait; manner of walking.
pos: noun
examples: The approach of a man is often known by his step.
Warwick passed through one of the wide brick arches and traversed the building with a leisurely step.
gloss: Proceeding; measure; action; act.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
Moon has also requested that government officials take additional steps to help fight pollution, his spokesman said.
gloss: A walk; passage.
pos: noun
tags: in-plural
examples: Conduct my steps to find the fatal tree.
gloss: A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position.
pos: noun
tags: in-plural
gloss: A framing in wood or iron which is intended to receive an upright shaft; specifically, a block of wood, or a solid platform upon the keelson, supporting the heel of the mast.
pos: noun
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
gloss: A bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves.
pos: noun
gloss: The interval between two contiguous degrees of the scale.
pos: noun
examples: Usage 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.
gloss: A change of position effected by a motion of translation.
pos: noun
examples: A change of position effected by a motion of translation will be called a step.
gloss: A constant difference between consecutive values in a series.
pos: noun
examples: Printing from 0 to 9 with a step of 3 will display 0, 3, 6 and 9.
gloss: Kick scooter.
pos: noun
tags: Netherlands
slang
gloss: Stepping (style of dance)
pos: noun
gloss: 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.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.
gloss: To walk; to go on foot; especially, to walk a little distance.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Come one, come all. Step right up!
to step to one of the neighbors
Some days later it happened that young Heriotside was stepping home over the Lang Muir about ten at night, it being his first jaunt from home since his arm had mended.
Well... It's hard to talk about in front of the children. Can we step outside?
gloss: To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Home from his Morning-Task , the Swain retreats, His flock before him stepping to the fold.
gloss: To dance.
pos: verb
examples: At arms length with left hands clasped they moved back where facing each other they stepped in time to their dance embrace.
She clapped, but instead of walking her back to the table, Alex took her hand and pulled her gently towards him, slipping his arm around her waist again and stepping her off on the first beat of the next dance.
He stepped to the beat of one of their favorite songs.
He put on a tame version of the 1960s song “The Letter,” wrapped his right arm around my waist, raised my right hand, draped it over his left, and we stepped, stepped, and back stepped to the beat.
gloss: To move mentally; to go in imagination.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: They are stepping almost three thousand years back into the remotest antiquity.
gloss: To set, as the foot.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: One of the women, Elsie, stepped her foot inside to help the woman.
gloss: To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: We put everything straight, stepped the long-boat's mast for our skipper, who was in charge of her, and I was not sorry to sit down for a moment.
gloss: To advance a process gradually, one step at a time.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To depart.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
slang
examples: You best step, cuz things are about to jump off.
gloss: To be confrontational.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
slang
examples: You tryna be steppin right now? You better bring it if so.
Derived words: 13th step
a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
baby step
between-step
body step
bootstep
catch step
catstep
clownstep
coaster step
corbie-step
corbie step
counterstep
crowstep
dance step
doorstep
eigenstep
Eureka step
false step
fire step
fish steps
forestep
goose step
half-step
hardstep
high-step
hoofstep
instep
in step
interstep
Irish step dancing
kick-step
lockstep
macrostep
mast step
metastep
microstep
midstep
multistep
naughty step
oblique step
one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind
one-step
one step ahead
one step at a time
out of step
pawstep
Penrose steps
pep in one's step
Pinoy step
rest step
retrace one's steps
route step
single-step
smoothstep
spring in one's step
stair-step
stairstep
step aerobics
stepback
step by step
step-by-step
stepchair
step change
step chart
step climb
step-climb
stepdancer
step deal
step flashing
step foot
Stepford
step-free
step function
step grate
step ladder
steplength
stepless
steplike
steply
step machine
stepmeal
step motor
steppage
stepper
step pyramid
stepquote
step rocket
step show
stepside
stepsize
stepstone
stepstool
step stool
step street
step time
step up one's game
stepway
stepwell
stepwise
stepwork
substep
superstep
take a step back
take steps
Tecumseh step test
Tennessee quick step
the first step is always the hardest
three-step snake
timestep
time step
tread in someone's steps
T-step
twelve-step program
two-step
two steps ahead
umbrella step
watch one's step
waterstep
whole step
with extra steps
backstep
cross-step
downstep
Eurostep
goose-step
misstep
quickstep
sidestep
understep
upstep
bestep
outstep
overstep
restep
roll step
smell what someone is stepping in
step and repeat
step aside
step back
step between
step dance
step down
step forth
step forward
step in
step-in
step in it
step into
step into someone's shoes
step into the breach
step it
step lively
step-off
step off
step on
step on a duck
step on a frog
step on a rake
step on it
step on someone's lines
step on someone's toes
step on the gas
step on the laughs
step out
step out of line
step out on someone
stepover
step over
steppable
stepping feet illusion
stepping stone
step short
step-through
step-thru
step to
step up
step up on
step up to the plate
unstep
you can't step in the same river twice
Translations: