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(), v. i.[imp. & p. p.Stepped (); p. pr. & vb. n.Stepping.] [AS. stppan; akin to OFries. steppa, D. stappen to step, stap a step, OHG. stepfen to step, G. stapfe a footstep, OHG. stapfo, G. stufe a step to step on; cf. Gr. to shake about, handle roughly, stamp (). Cf. Stamp, n. & a.] 1. To move the foot in walking; to advance or recede by raising and moving one of the feet to another resting place, or by moving both feet in succession. 2. To walk; to go on foot; esp., to walk a little distance; as, to step to one of the neighbors. 3. To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely. Home the swain retreats, His flock before him stepping to the fold. Thomson. 4. Fig.: To move mentally; to go in imagination. They are stepping almost three thousand years back into the remotest antiquity. Pope. To step aside, to walk a little distance from the rest; to retire from company. To step forth, to move or come forth. To step in or into. (a) To walk or advance into a place or state, or t Step v. t. 1. To set, as the foot. 2. (Naut.) To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect. To step off, to measure by steps, or paces; hence, to divide, as a space, or to form a series of marks, by successive measurements, as with dividers. Step n.[AS. stpe. See Step, v. i.] 1. An advance or movement made by one removal of the foot; a pace. 2. A rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a round of a ladder. The breadth of every single step or stair should be never less than one foot. Sir H. Wotton. 3. The space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running; as, one step is generally about three feet, but may be more or less. Used also figuratively of any kind of progress; as, he improved step by step, or by steps. To derive two or three general principles of motion from phenomena, and afterwards to tell us how the properties and actions of all corporeal things follow from those manifest principles, would be a very great step in philosophy. Sir I. Newton. 4. A small space or distance; as, it is but a step. 5. A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track. 6. Gait; manner of walking; as, the approach of a man is often known by his step. 7. Proceeding; measure; action Step- [AS. step-; akin to OFries. stiap-, stiep-, D. & G. stief-, OHG. stiuf-, Icel. stjp-, Sw. styf-, and to AS. stpan, stepan, to deprive, bereave, as children of their parents, OHG. stiufen.] A prefix used before father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, child, etc., to indicate that the person thus spoken of is not a blood relative, but is a relative by the marriage of a parent; as, a stepmother to X is the wife of the father of X, married by him after the death of the mother of X. See Stepchild, Stepdaughter, Stepson, etc. Step n.(Fives) At Eton College, England, a shallow step dividing the court into an inner and an outer portion. スポンサード リンク
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