Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Steep

Steep (stēp), a. Bright; glittering; fiery. [Obs.]

His eyen steep, and rolling in his head. Chaucer.

Steep, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Steeped (stēpt); p. pr. & vb. n. Steeping.] [OE. stepen, probably fr. Icel. steypa to cause to stoop, cast down, pour out, to cast metals, causative of stūpa to stoop; cf. Sw. stöpa to cast, to steep, Dan. stöbe, D. & G. stippen to steep, to dip. Cf. Stoop, v. t.] To soak in a liquid; to macerate; to extract the essence of by soaking; as, to soften seed by steeping it in water. Often used figuratively.

Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep. Shak.

In refreshing dew to steep The little, trembling flowers. Wordsworth.

The learned of the nation were steeped in Latin. Earle.

Steep, v. i. To undergo the process of soaking in a liquid; as, the tea is steeping. [Colloq.]

Steep, n. 1. Something steeped, or used in steeping; a fertilizing liquid to hasten the germination of seeds.

2. A rennet bag. [Prov. Eng.]

Steep, a. [Comper. Steeper; superl. Steepest.] [OE. steep, step, AS. steáp; akin to Icel. steypðr steep, and stūpa to stoop, Sw. stupa to fall, to tilt; cf. OFries. stap high. Cf. Stoop, v. i., Steep, v. t., Steeple.] 1. Making a large angle with the plane of the horizon; ascending or descending rapidly with respect to a horizontal line or a level; precipitous; as, a steep hill or mountain; a steep roof; a steep ascent; a steep declivity; a steep barometric gradient.

2. Difficult of access; not easy reached; lofty; elevated; high. [Obs.] Chapman.

3. Excessive; as, a steep price. [Slang]

Steep, n. A precipitous place, hill, mountain, rock, or ascent; any elevated object sloping with a large angle to the plane of the horizon; a precipice. Dryden.

We had on each side naked rocks and mountains broken into a thousand irregular steeps and precipices. Addison.

Bare steeps, where desolation stalks. Wordsworth.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.