step foot
English
Etymology
Apparently a blending of step with set foot, perhaps by confusion.
Verb
step foot (third-person singular simple present steps foot, present participle stepping foot, simple past and past participle stepped foot)
- (chiefly US) Alternative form of set foot
- 1813, Washington Irving, “Sketches of an Excursion from Edinburgh to Dublin”, in The Analectic magazine, page 480:
- This was a pleasure of no small kind; and in stepping foot again upon the soil of that country, which contains much that I prize, and more that I admire
- 1872, Sir Norman Lockyer, Nature: international journal of science, volume 6, page 509:
- All the dukes and princes that ever stepped foot in America, never deserved a tenth part of the attention which is due to Prof. Agassiz.
- 1896, Sarah Orne Jewett, The country of the pointed firs, page 105:
- She never stepped foot on the mainland again long as she lived.
- 2003, Deborah P. Britzman, After-education: Anna Freud, Melanie Klein, and psychoanalytic histories of learning, page 134:
- "Well," the person responded, pointing to each building in turn: "This one I usually go to, this one I sometimes go to, and this one I would never step foot in."
- 2003, Richard Dry, Leaving, page 114:
- It was a week after the funeral before Lida stepped foot in the house again.
- 2005, Jay Emerson Johnson, Dancing With God: Anglican Christianity And The Practice Of Hope, page 49:
- Imagine stepping foot on a dance floor after studying and practicing the steps for a waltz and the band strikes up the music for a rumba
- 2008, Steven Sanders, The philosophy of TV noir, page 79:
- Charles is arrested at the airport the moment he steps foot on British soil.
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Anagrams
- footstep