steep
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: stēp, IPA(key): /stiːp/
- Rhymes: -iːp
Audio (US) (file)
Etymology 1
From Middle English steep, from Old English stēap (“high”), from Proto-Germanic *staupaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewb- (“to push, stick”).[1]
Compare Old Frisian stāp ("high, towering"; > Modern Saterland Frisian stiep (“steep”)), Dutch stoop (“grand; proud”), Middle High German stouf (“towering cliff, precipice”), Middle High German stief (“steep”)). The Proto-Indo-European root (and related) has many and varied descendants, including English stub; compare also Scots stap (“to strike, to forcibly insert”).
The sense of “sharp slope” is attested circa 1200; the sense “expensive” is attested US 1856.[1]
Adjective
steep (comparative steeper, superlative steepest)
A car windshield like this is said to have a steep rake.
- Of a near-vertical gradient; of a slope, surface, curve, etc. that proceeds upward at an angle near vertical.
- a steep hill or mountain; a steep roof; a steep ascent; a steep barometric gradient
- (informal) expensive
- Twenty quid for a shave? That's a bit steep.
- (obsolete) Difficult to access; not easy reached; lofty; elevated; high.
- 1596, George Chapman, De Guiana, carmen Epicum
- Her ears and thoughts in steep amaze erected
- 1596, George Chapman, De Guiana, carmen Epicum
- (of the rake of a ship's mast, or a car's windshield) resulting in a mast or windshield angle that strongly diverges from the perpendicular
- The steep rake of the windshield enhances the fast lines of the exterior.
Synonyms
- (dialectal) brant
Derived terms
- steepen
Translations
near-vertical
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expensive — see expensive
Noun
steep (plural steeps)
- The steep side of a mountain etc.; a slope or acclivity.
- 1833, Benjamin Disraeli, The Wondrous Tale of Alroy
- It ended precipitously in a dark and narrow ravine, formed on the other side by an opposite mountain, the lofty steep of which was crested by a city gently rising on a gradual slope
- 1833, Benjamin Disraeli, The Wondrous Tale of Alroy
Etymology 2
From Middle English stepen, from Old Norse steypa (“to make stoop, cast down, pour out, cast (metal)”)[2][3], from Proto-Germanic *staupijaną (“to tumble, make tumble, plunge”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewb- (“to push, hit”). Cognate with Danish støbe (“cast (metal)”), Norwegian støpe, støype, Swedish stöpa (“to found, cast (metal)”), Old English stūpian (“to stoop, bend the back, slope”). Doublet of stoop.
Verb
steep (third-person singular simple present steeps, present participle steeping, simple past and past participle steeped)
- (transitive, middle) To soak or wet thoroughly.
- They steep skins in a tanning solution to create leather.
- The tea is steeping.
- 1820, William Wordsworth, Composed at Cora Linn, in sight of Wallace's Tower
- In refreshing dews to steep / The little, trembling flowers.
- (intransitive, figurative) To imbue with something; to be deeply immersed in.
- a town steeped in history
- 1871, John Earle, The Philology of the English Tongue
- The learned of the nation were steeped in Latin.
- 1989, Black 47, Big Fellah:
- We fought against each other, two brothers steeped in blood / But I never doubted that your heart was broken in the flood / And though we had to shoot you down in golden Béal na mBláth / I always knew that Ireland lost her greatest son of all.
Derived terms
- insteep
Translations
to soak an item in liquid
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to imbue with an abstract quality
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to make tea/coffee
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Noun
steep (countable and uncountable, plural steeps)
- A liquid used in a steeping process
- Corn steep has many industrial uses.
- A rennet bag.
Translations
liquid
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References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “steep”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- Danish cognate in ODS: eng. (muligvis fra nordisk) steep
- steep in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
Anagrams
- Estep, Tepes, petes, speet, teeps, tepes