I. ˈstēp adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English stepe, from Old English stēap high, steep, deep; akin to Old English stēap cup, Old Frisian stāp steep, Old High German stouf high rock, cup, Middle High German stief steep, Old Norse staup lump, knoll, hole in a road, cup
1. : lofty , tall , elevated , high — used chiefly of a sea
ships steaming into steep head seas — Manual of Seamanship
the elusive periscope almost impossible to detect in such steep seas — Stanley Rogers
2.
a. : making a large angle with the plane of the horizon : having a side or slope approaching the perpendicular : precipitous
steep hills
a steep road
area of cleared, steep ground — Evan Williams
b. of twill : having an angle greater than 45 degrees in the twill line
3.
a. : mounting or falling precipitously : headlong
a steep flight of stairs
b. : characterized by a very rapid decline or increase
the steep but comparatively brief depression — Clark Warburton
the persistently steep fall in immigration — Peter Scott
a period of steep decline in our literary standards — Malcolm Cowley
4. : having precipitious or sharply pitched sides
a steep roof
its steep wooded valleys — R.M.Lockley
5. : difficult to accept, meet, or perform : arduous , extreme , excessive , exorbitant , incredible
a steep story
a steep tax
prices are rather steep
a steep task
Synonyms:
abrupt , precipitous , sheer : steep describes a slope or pitch likely to make ascent difficult or descent or fall sharp, rapid, rushing
the trail … then struck up the side of the mountain, growing steeper every foot of the way — H.D.Quillin
a slope of water so steep that it made me giddy — R.L.Stevenson
abrupt may apply to sudden protuberance or declivity, to sharply broken angles or levels
occasionally the hills slope gently to the waterline, but more often the highlands rise into abrupt cliffs — American Guide Series: Minnesota
high abrupt banks in places become hanging cliffs with a drop of 100 feet or more — American Guide Series: North Carolina
precipitous applies to inclines next to impossible to climb by ordinary procedures, to those approaching the perpendicular
a mountainous region, fronting the Pacific, to which it presents, abruptly, a precipitous escarpment — American Guide Series: Oregon
a deep gorge, with precipitous, volcanic walls which no man could scale — Jack London
sheer may suggest an unbroken perpendicular expanse
sheer cliffs that fell from the summit to the plain, more than a thousand feet — Willa Cather
a sheer drop of 224 feet into a pool at the base of an overhanging cliff — American Guide Series: Oregon
II. adverb
: steeply
the cliff rises steep behind it — Edmund Wilson
the roof … was pitched very steep to shed water — American Guide Series: Connecticut
— often used in combination
steep -ascending
III. noun
( -s )
: a precipitous place : a steep ascent or descent : an object having a steep side or slope
too many thickets and swamps and steeps for practical traveling off the roads — G.W.Brace
when the toiling cyclists climbed that steep they had the flat road … in front of them — O.S.J.Gogarty
IV. intransitive verb
Etymology: -ed/-ing/-s
: slope ; especially : to slope abruptly
now the angle of ascent steeped sharply — J.R.Ullman
V. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English stepen; akin to Swedish stöpa to steep, Danish stöbe, and probably to Old English stēap cup — more at steep I
transitive verb
1.
a. : to soak or let stand in a liquid at a temperature under the boiling point (as for the purpose of cleansing, softening, bleaching, extracting a flavor, or germinating) : infuse , macerate
rice grains are usually steeped in a solution of sodium hydroxide
steep coffee
steep barley
b. : to soak (corn kernels) in warm water usually containing a very small amount of sulfur dioxide in the manufacture of starch by the wet milling process
c. : to soak (cellulose pulp) in a dilute solution of sodium hydroxide for the production of alkali cellulose
2. : bathe , wet , immerse , moisten
steeped my wrists and laved my temples — R.L.Stevenson
3. : to saturate thoroughly : imbue
the world was all steeped in sunshine — D.H.Lawrence
a man steeped in the art of the past — Aline B. Saarinen
they continued to steep themselves in the classics — Gilbert Highet
the annals of those steeped in crime — Ellen Smith
intransitive verb
: to undergo the process of soaking in a liquid (as water) under the boiling point
the tea is steeping
rosemary … steeping in vinegar — J.H.Wheelwright
VI. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English stepe, from stepen to steep
1. : the state or process of being steeped
put barley in steep for forty-eight hours
2. : a bath or solution in which something is steeped (as in dyeing or cleansing)
3. : a tank in which a material (as corn or rice) is steeped
the shelled corn is soaked in a steep before milling
the rice starch from the steep is purified
VII. adjective
Etymology: steep (V)
: used for steeping
steep tank
steep tub