steep
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English [edit]
Pronunciation [edit]
Etymology 1 [edit]
Old English stēap (“high”), from Proto-Germanic *staupaz (compare Old Frisian stap, Middle High German *stouf), from Proto-Indo-European *steup- (“to push, stick”).[1] 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 [edit]
steep (comparative steeper, superlative steepest)
- Of a near-vertical gradient; of a slope, surface, curve, etc. that proceeds upward at an angle near vertical.
- (informal) expensive
- That's a bit steep.
Translations [edit]
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Etymology 2 [edit]
From Middle English stepen, from Old Norse steypa (“to make stoop, cast down, pour out, cast (metal)”)[2][3], from Proto-Germanic *staupijanan (“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”). More at stoop.
Verb [edit]
steep (third-person singular simple present steeps, present participle steeping, simple past and past participle steeped)
- To soak an item (or to be soaked) in liquid in order to gradually add or remove components to or from the item
- They steep skins in a tanning solution to create leather.
- The tea is steeping.
- To be imbued with an abstract quality
- a town steeped in history
- To make tea (or other beverage) by placing leaves in hot water.
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
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Noun [edit]
steep (countable and uncountable; plural steeps)
- A liquid used in a steeping process
- Corn steep has many industrial uses.
- A rennet bag.
Translations [edit]
References [edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 “steep” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).
- ^ Danish cognate in ODS: eng. (muligvis fra nordisk) steep
- ^ steep in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
