different between steep vs steed

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: st?p, IPA^(key): /sti?p/
• Rhymes: -i?p

Etymology 1

From Middle English steep, from Old English st?ap (“high”), from Proto-Germanic *staupaz. Compare Old Frisian st?p, Dutch stoop (“grand; proud”), Middle High German stouf (“towering cliff, precipice”), Middle High German stief (“steep”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewb- (“to push, stick”). 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.

Adjective

steep (comparative steeper, superlative steepest)

1. Of a near-vertical gradient; of a slope, surface, curve, etc. that proceeds upward at an angle near vertical.

2. (informal) expensive

3. (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

4. (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

Derived terms

• steepen

Synonyms

• (dialectal) brant

Translations

Noun

steep (plural steeps)

1. The steep side of a mountain etc.; a slope or acclivity.
   • 1833, Banjamin 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

Etymology 2

From Middle English stepen, from Old Norse steypa (“to make stoop, cast down, pour out, cast (metal)”), from Proto-Germanic *staupijan? (“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 st?pian (“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)

1. (transitive, middle) To soak or wet thoroughly.
   • 1820, William Wordsworth, Composed at Cora Linn, in sight of Wallace's Tower

     In refreshing dews to steep / The little, trembling flowers.

2. (intransitive, figuratively) To imbue with something; to be deeply immersed in.
   • 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

Noun

steep (countable and uncountable, plural steeps)

1. A liquid used in a steeping process

   Corn steep has many industrial uses.

2. A rennet bag.

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Estep, Tepes, speet, teeps, tepes

English

Etymology

From Old English steda (“stallion, stud”) (compare Old Dutch stoti (“herd of horses”), Old High German stuot (“herd of horses”)).

Pronunciation

• enPR: st?d, IPA^(key): /sti?d/
• Rhymes: -i?d

Noun

steed (plural steeds)

1. (archaic, poetic) A stallion, especially in the sense of mount.

   The studded bridle on a ragged bough

   Nimbly she fastens: -- O, how quick is love! --

   The steed is stalled up, and even now

   To tie the rider she begins to prove:

   Backward she push'd him, as she would be thrust,

   And govern'd him in strength, though not in lust. — Shakespeare, "Venus and Adonis".

2. (cycling, slang, humorous) A bicycle.

Translations

See also

• horse

Anagrams

• Teeds, deest, deets, tedes

North Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian stede, which derives from Proto-Germanic *stadiz. Cognates include West Frisian stêd.

Noun

steed n (plural steeden)

1. (Föhr-Amrum) city, town

Derived terms

• steedsmaan m
• steedswüf n
• steeds