steep

Meanings

Adjective

• Of a near-vertical gradient; of a slope, surface, curve, etc. that proceeds upward at an angle near vertical.
• expensive
• Difficult to access; not easy reached; lofty; elevated; high.
• resulting in a mast or windshield angle that strongly diverges from the perpendicular

Noun

• The steep side of a mountain etc.; a slope or acclivity.
• A liquid used in a steeping process
• A rennet bag.

Verb

• To soak or wet thoroughly.
• To imbue with something; to be deeply immersed in.

Related

Similar words

• brant

Origin

• From Middle English steep, from Old English stēap ("high"), from Proto-Germanic *staupaz. Compare Old Frisian stap, 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.
• From Middle English stepen, from Old Norse steypa ("to make stoop, cast down, pour out, cast (metal)"), from Proto-Germanic *staupijaną ("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 stūpian ("to stoop, bend the back, slope"). stoop.