steel

English Online Dictionary. What means steel‎? What does steel mean?

English

Alternative forms

• steele (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• enPR: stēl, IPA^(key): /stiːl/, [stiːɫ]
• Homophones: steal, stele
• Rhymes: -iːl

Etymology 1

From Middle English stele, stel, from Old English stīele, from Proto-West Germanic *stahlī (“something made of steel”), enlargement of *stahl (“steel”), from Proto-Germanic *stahlą, from *stah- or *stag- (“to be firm, rigid”), from Proto-Indo-European *stak- (“to stay, to be firm”). Compare Scots stele, Yola stehli.

Noun

steel (countable and uncountable, plural steels)

2. (countable, uncountable) An artificial metal produced from iron, harder and more elastic than elemental iron; used figuratively as a symbol of hardness.
   • c. 1275, Laȝamon, Brut, 12916:

     Þe alle þine leomen wule to-draȝen. þeh þu weore stel al.

   • c. 1480, St. Mary Magdalen, 408 in 1896, W. M. Metcalfe, Legends Saints Sc. Dial., I 267:

     Weman...with wordis cane rycht wele our-cum mene hard as stele.
3. (countable) Any item made of this metal, particularly including:
   1. Bladed or pointed weapons, as swords, javelins, daggers.
   2. A piece used for striking sparks from flint.
   3. Armor.
   4. A honing steel, a tool used to sharpen or hone metal blades.
      • 1541 in 1844, J. Stuart, Extracts of the Council Register of Aberdeen, I 176:

        The steill to scherp the schawing jrne.
   5. (sewing) Pieces used to strengthen, support, or expand an item of clothing.
   6. (dialectal) A flat iron.
   7. (sewing, dialectal) A sewing needle; a knitting needle; a sharp metal stylus.
   8. (printing) An engraving plate.
   9. Projectiles.
   10. (sewing) A fringe of beads or decoration of this metal.
   11. (music, guitar) A type of slide used while playing the steel guitar.
4. (uncountable, medicine, obsolete) Medicinal consumption of this metal; chalybeate medicine; (eventually) any iron or iron-treated water consumed as a medical treatment.
5. (uncountable, colors) The gray hue of this metal; steel-gray, or steel blue.
   • 1851 Dec 28, E. Ruskin, letter in 1965, M. Lutyens, Effie in Venice, II 236:

     Falkenhayn gave...to Jane a steel glacé silk dress.
6. (figurative) Extreme hardness or resilience.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

steel (not comparable)

1. Made of steel.
   • mid-14th century, Alisaunder, 416:

     Strained in stel ger on steedes of might.
2. Similar to steel in color, strength, or the like; steely.
3. (business) Of or belonging to the manufacture or trade in steel.
4. (medicine, obsolete) Containing steel.
5. (printing) Engraved on steel.
   • 1880, Mark Twain, letter:

     The best picture I have had yet is the steel frontis-piece to my new book.

Translations

Verb

steel (third-person singular simple present steels, present participle steeling, simple past and past participle steeled) (transitive)

1. (literally) To treat or furnish with or transform into steel.
   1. To edge, cover, or point with steel.
   2. (obsolete, of mirrors) To back with steel.
   3. (obsolete, medicine) To treat a liquid with steel for medicinal purposes.
   4. To electroplate an item (particularly an engraving plate) with a layer of iron.
   5. To sharpen with a honing steel.
   6. To steelify; to turn iron into steel.
2. (figuratively) To cause to resemble steel.
   1. To harden or strengthen; to nerve or make obdurate; to fortify against.
      • 1796, F. Burney, Camilla, II iv vi 370:

        Steel yourself, then, firmly to withstand attacks from the cruel and unfeeling.

      • 1882, F. W. Farrar, Early Days Christianity, II 380:

        The rich experience of a long life steeled in the victorious struggle with every unchristian element.

   2. (literary or poetic) To give (something) the appearance of steel.
3. (dialectal) To press with a flat iron.

Synonyms

• (harden): See also Thesaurus:harden
• (strengthen): See also Thesaurus:strengthen

Derived terms

• steel up
• unsteel
• unsteeled

Translations

Etymology 2

From French Bastille (a French prison).

Proper noun

steel

1. (UK, crime, slang, obsolete) Coldbath Fields Prison in London, closed in 1877.

Further reading

• 1811, Lexicon Balatronicum: Steel, the house of correction.
• 1819, J. H. Vaux, New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Mem.: Bastile, generally called for shortnes, the steel a cant name for the House of Correction, Cold-Bath-Fields, London.

References

Anagrams

• Teles, Leets, stélé, Teels, Elets, sleet, leets, stele, stelè, teles

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch stelen, from Middle Dutch stelen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stiə̯l/

Verb

steel (present steel, present participle stelende, past participle gesteel or (adjectivally, dated) gestole)

1. to steal

Related terms

• diefstal

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /steːl/
• Hyphenation: steel
• Rhymes: -eːl

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch stēle, from Old Dutch *stelo, from Proto-West Germanic *stelō, *stalu, from Proto-Germanic *staluz, *steluz (“post, trunk, stump, stem, tail”), from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to put, place”). Cognate with dialectal English steal (“stem, stalk”), Scots steel, stiel (“stalk”).

Noun

steel m (plural stelen, diminutive steeltje n)

1. stem (of a plant)

   Synonym: stengel

2. handle (of a broom, a pan)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

steel

1. inflection of stelen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Anagrams

• leest, sleet, slete, stele

North Frisian

Alternative forms

• steele (Mooring)
• stial (Sylt)

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *stelaną.

Pronunciation

• (Föhr-Amrum) IPA^(key): [steːl]

Verb

steel

1. (Föhr-Amrum) to steal

Conjugation