steel
/stiːl/ noun, adjective, verb, proper noun
Also a form of stale
Forms steels steeling steeled the Steel steele
- noun (countable, uncountable) An artificial metal produced from iron, harder and more elastic than elemental iron; used figuratively as a symbol of hardness.
- noun Bladed or pointed weapons, as swords, javelins, daggers.
- noun A piece used for striking sparks from flint or ferrocerium.
- noun Armor.
- noun A honing steel, a tool used to sharpen or hone metal blades.
- noun (sewing) Pieces used to strengthen, support, or expand an item of clothing.
- noun (dialectal) A flat iron.
- noun (sewing, dialectal) A sewing needle; a knitting needle; a sharp metal stylus.
- adjective Made of steel.
- adjective Similar to steel in color, strength, or the like; steely.
- adjective (business) Of or belonging to the manufacture or trade in steel.
- adjective (medicine, obsolete) Containing steel.
- adjective (printing) Engraved on steel.
- verb To edge, cover, or point with steel.
- verb (obsolete, of mirrors) To back with steel.
- verb (obsolete, medicine) To treat a liquid with steel for medicinal purposes.
- verb To electroplate an item (particularly an engraving plate) with a layer of iron.
- verb To sharpen with a honing steel.
- verb To steelify; to turn iron into steel.
- verb To harden or strengthen; to nerve or make obdurate; to fortify against.
Synonyms
cold weapon white arm firesteel striker firestriker sword blade brand nerve
Etymology
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, German Stahl, Dutch staal, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish stål.
From French Bastille (a French prison).
From Bastille.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A variety of iron intermediate in composition and properties between wrought iron and cast iron (containing between one half of one per cent and one and a half per cent of carbon), and consisting of an alloy of iron with an iron carbide. Steel, unlike wrought iron, can be tempered, and retains magnetism. Its malleability decreases, and fusibility increases, with an increase in carbon.
- noun An instrument or implement made of steel; as: -- (a) A weapon, as a sword, dagger, etc. "Brave Macbeth . . . with his brandished steel." Shak.
- verb To overlay, point, or edge with steel; as, to steel a razor; to steel an ax.
- verb To make hard or strong; hence, to make insensible or obdurate.
Etymology [AS. stel, styl, style; akin to D. staal, G. stahl, OHG. stahal, Icel. stal, Dan. staal, Sw. stål, Old Prussian stakla.]
Etymology [AS. stlan: cf. Icel. stæla. See Steel, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “steel”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details