step

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Stepped p. pr. & vb. n. Stepping. ] [ AS. staeppan; 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. &unr_; 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To walk; to go on foot; esp., to walk a little distance; as, to step to one of the neighbors. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely. [ 1913 Webster ]

Home the swain retreats,
His flock before him stepping to the fold. Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Fig.: To move mentally; to go in imagination. [ 1913 Webster ]

They are stepping almost three thousand years back into the remotest antiquity. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

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
To step into. (a) To walk or advance into a place or state, or to advance suddenly in. [ 1913 Webster ] Whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. John v. 4. [ 1913 Webster ] (b) To enter for a short time; as, I just stepped into the house. (c) To obtain possession without trouble; to enter upon easily or suddenly; as, to step into an estate. --
To step out. (a) (Mil.) To increase the length, but not the rapidity, of the step, extending it to thirty-tree inches. (b) To go out for a short distance or a short time. --
To step short (Mil.), to diminish the length or rapidity of the step according to the established rules. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To set, as the foot. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Naut.) To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

. [ AS. steóp-; akin to OFries. stiap-, stiep-, D. & G. stief-, OHG. stiuf-, Icel. stj&unr_;p-, Sw. styf-, and to AS. āstēpan, āsteópan, 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A brother by the marriage of one's father with the mother of another, or of one's mother with the father of another. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. steópcild. ] 1. A bereaved child; one who has lost father or mother. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A son or daughter of one's wife or husband by a former marriage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A stepmother. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. steópdohtor. ] A daughter of one's wife or husband by a former marriage. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Elec.) Transforming or converting a current of high potential or voltage into one of low voltage; as, a step-down transformer. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]