Forms: 1 stéap, 3 steap, stæp, 3–6 stepe, (4 steppe), 4–7 steepe, 5 steype, 6 stipe, stype, stiepe, 6–7 Sc. steip, 7 stiep, 7– steep. [OE. stéap, corresp. to OFris. stâp, MHG. *stouf (as sb. with the sense ‘steep, declivity,’ in the proper name Hohenstaufen):—OTeut. type *staupo-, f. Teut. root *steup- : staup- : stŭp-: see STOOP v.] A. adj.
† 1. Extending to a great height; elevated, lofty.
Beowulf, 222 (Gr.). Beorʓas steape.
a. 1000. Riddles, iv. 10 (Gr.). Weallas beofiað steape ofer stiwitum.
c. 1205. Lay., 19815. [They] mid eorðe & mid stanen stepne hul makede.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1396. & Baltazar vpon bench was busked to sete, Stepe stayred stones of his stoute throne.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 4828. A cliffe at to þe cloudis semed, Þat was so staire & so stepe.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 474/1. Steepe, nowt lowe, elevatus, ascendens.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., I. 200. To a roome they came, Steepe, and of state.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 135. Where delicious Paradise,… Crowns with her enclosure green,… the champain head Of a steep wilderness.
1738. Wesley, Hymn, ‘Eternal Wisdom,’ ix. Thy Breath can raise the Billows steep, Or sink them to the Sand.
† b. = ‘High’ in certain transferred uses. Of warriors or their attributes: Of high courage, noble. Of a voice: High, loud. Obs.
c. 1205. Lay., 1532. Þer wes moni steap mon mid stele toswngen. Ibid., 1541. Cuð nu þine strengða & þina stepa main. Ibid., 5879. And make we … auer alche hæpe hertoȝe stæpne.
13[?]. Coer de L., 5985. Kyng Richard … cryyd on hym with voys ful stepe, ‘Home, schrewe!’
2. † a. Of eyes: Projecting, prominent (also steep-out); staring; glaring with passion.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 456. He hæfð steape eaʓan [= L. ‘oculi grandes,’ Pass. S. Bartholomæi].
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 307. Þe keiser bistarede hire wið swiðe steape ehnen hwil þat ha spek þus.
c. 1320. Sir Beues, 685. Wiþ stepe eiȝen & rowe bren So loþeliche he gan on hem sen,… þai were aferde.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 201. His heed was balled … Hise eyen stepe, and rollynge in his heed.
1397. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., III. xvii. (1495), 64. Grete and stepe eyen [L. oculus eminens] … se not well aferre: but depe eyen se wel aferre.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3758. Crispe herit was the kyng,… Stokyn ene out stepe with a streught loke. Ibid., 7724. His Ene [were] leuenaund with light as a low fyn, With stremys full stithe in his stepe loke.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 115. He þat hauys steepe-owt eghen [L. oculos extensos] ys malicious & feloun.
c. 1450. Lovelich, Grail, xiii. 651. With grete stepe Eyen In his hed Also.
1555. W. Watreman, Fardle Facions, II. x. 212. The Tartares are very deformed,… hauyng great stiepe eyes.
† b. Of jewels, eyes, stars: Brilliant. In later use only of eyes, in the poetical phrase steep and gray. Obs.
a. 1000. Gnomic Verses, i. 23 (Gr.). Ʒim sceal on hringe standan steap & ʓeap.
a. 1000. Sal. & Sat., 284 (Gr.). Ne mæʓ hit steorra ne stan ne se steapa ʓimm … wihte beswican.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 1647. A deorewurðe wal, schininde, & schenre, of ȝimstanes steapre Þen is eni steorre.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 9. His twa ehnen steappre þene steorren ant þene ȝimstanes ant brad as bascins.
c. 1330. King of Tars, 15. Eyyen stepe and graye.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 583. By-þenk þe sumtyme, Wheþer he þat stykked vche a stare in vche steppe yȝe, Ȝif hym self be bore blynde hit is a brod wonder.
a. 1529. Skelton, P. Sparowe, 1014. Her eyen gray and stepe Causeth myne hert to lepe.
1577. Grange, Golden Aphrod., G j b. Hir twinckling, eyne bothe steepe and grey, they seeme like Christall cleare.
3. Of a hill, mountain, cliff: Having an almost perpendicular face or slope, precipitous. Of a gradient or slope, a staircase, etc.: High-pitched.
The sense prob. goes back to OE., but is difficult to authenticate, as when applied to mountains, cliffs, etc., the word prob. expressed a mixed notion of senses 1 and 3.
c. 1200. Ormin, 11379. & ʓet te deofell … brohhte himm onn an lawe Þatt wass well swiþe stæp & heh.
13[?]. K. Alis., 7041. Theo path on mount was narwe and stepe, In valeys, dark and deope.
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1539), 50 b. Stronge or violente exercises be these … clymmyng or walkyng against a stipe vpright hyll.
1549. Thomas, Hist. Italie, 161. I thynke the stipe descent of the hill causeth, that they haue not roome enough to make theyr stretes large.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. i. 2. Was that the King that spurd his horse so hard, Against the steepe vprising of the hill?
1605. Verstegan, Dec. Intell., iv. 95. These clifs … are … as it were cut of stiep or straight down, from the top to the bottom.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., 344. A mighty ridge of steepe high Cliffs [L. cautium eminentia] … runneth for seaven miles or there about, as far as to Dover.
1611. Bible, Matt. viii. 32. The whole herd of swine ranne violently downe a steepe place into the Sea.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 71. The way seems difficult and steep to scale With upright wing against a higher foe.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 28 Aug. 1670. Those huge steepe stayres ascending to it.
1718. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Mrs. T——, 25 Sept. The descent is … steep and slippery.
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), I. 137. The declivity of the bason of the Sea is much steeper than that of the bounding lands.
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, ix. 218. Again the burning wheels inflame The steep descent of Heaven’s untrodden way.
1838. Arnold, Hist. Rome, I. 32. The hills of Rome are … low in height but with steep and rocky sides.
1876. Miss Braddon, J. Haggard’s Dau., II. 17. The narrow path … had been cut into steps where the slope was steepest.
1884. [see GRADIENT sb. 1].
b. transf. of movement. poet.
1603. Drayton, Barons’ Wars, VI. xxii. That slippery way Where the most worldly prouident doe slide, Feeling the steepe fall threatning sure decay.
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 741. [He] Throws his steep flight in many an Aerie wheele.
1818. Shelley, Homer’s Hymn to Sun, 22. His rapid steeds soon bear him to the West; Where their steep flight his hands divine arrest.
† c. Of a ditch, cave or the like: Having precipitous sides or entrance. Obs.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 974. With diuers fortresses in the ditches, which were so broade and so plumme steepe that was wonder to beholde.
1598. Extracts Burgh Rec. Glasgow (1876), 189. His steip trocht and wolt biggit be him. Ibid. (1601). Ane steip troche.
1608. Topsell, Serpents, 10. Ouid writeth: Longo caput extulit antro Cæruleus serpens,… That is—The greenish Serpent extolld her head from denne so steepe.
† d. Of a forehead: Upright, high. Obs. rare–1.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XXX. (Percy Soc.), 146. Her forehead stepe, with fayre browes ybent.
† e. Of water: Having a headlong course, flowing precipitously. Of rain (Sc.): Pouring. Obs.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 1450. Her vnder is a ȝerde depe A water, boþe swift & stepe.
1634. Milton, Comus, 97. And the gilded Car of Day, His glowing Axle doth allay In the steep Atlantick stream. Ibid. (c. 1655), Ps. lxxxi. 31. I tri’d thee at the water steep Of Meriba renown’d.
1659. A. Hay, Diary (S.H.S.), 149. Mr Rot Broun and I cam away from Lanerick in a very steep raine.
f. Coal-mining. Of a seam or measure: Having a high inclination.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 239. Steep seams [of coal].
1892. Labour Commission Gloss., Steep Measures, a description of the seams of coal on the South crop … in South Wales, which are highly inclined.
4. In occasional figurative uses. (Very common in Milton.) a. Of an aim, an undertaking, etc.: Arduous, full of difficulty, ambitious.
1598. Bastard, Chrestol., IV. xii. 85. His heedlesse good and steepe presumptuousnesse.
1816. Byron, Ch. Har., III. cv. They were gigantic minds, and their steep aim Was, Titan-like, on daring doubts to pile Thoughts which [etc.].
† b. Of a difficulty: Hard to surmount. Obs.
1644. Milton, Areop. (Arb.), 32. To which [bound of civill liberty] … wee are already in good part arriv’d, and yet from such a steepe disadvantage of tyranny and superstition grounded into our principles as was [etc.].
† c. = HEADLONG a. 4. Obs.
1616. B. Jonson, Forest, xi. Who … Would, at suggestion of a steepe desire, Cast himselfe from the spire Of all his happiness?
1649. Milton, Eikon., 42. The stay and support of all things from that steep ruin to which he had nigh brought them. Ibid. (1653), Ps. vii. 60. With ruine steep. Ibid. (1667), P. L., VI. 324. It met The sword of Satan with steep force to smite Descending.
d. Of inequalities, contrasts: Violent, extreme.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, Result, Wks. (Bohn), II. 136. The feudal system survives in the steep inequality of property and privilege. Ibid., Manners, ibid. II. 51. The range of nations from which London draws, and the steep contrasts of condition, create the picturesque in society.
5. slang. Excessive, extravagant, ‘stiff,’ ‘tall.’ Of a price, an amount: Exorbitant. Of a story, etc.: Exaggerated, incredible.
1856. Knick. Mag., April, XLVII. 362 (Thornton, Amer. Gloss.). He ’s too steep in his price, any way.
1857. Chicago Tribune, 17 Oct. (Bartlett). One hundred and ten Winnebago Indians, wearing their blankets, voted the Democratic ticket; but the agent thought this was rather steep, so he afterwards crossed that number from the list.
1895. Westm. Gaz., 22 April, 4/3. This is rather a steep statement, even for a party that exists on credit.
1901. Munsey’s Mag., XXIV. 441/1. Forty thousand marks … is a pretty steep price even for a royal motor carriage.
6. attrib. and Comb., as steep-grade adj.; chiefly parasynthetic, as steep-backed, -faced, -gabled, -pitched, -pointed, -roofed, -scarped, -sided, -streeted; † steepward adv. ? on a steep slope. Also STEEP-DOWN, STEEP-TO, STEEP-UP, STEEPWISE.
1889. F. Cowper, Captain of Wight, 227. The old man once more turned to climb the *steep-backed hill.
1894. J. C. Atkinson, Old Whitby, 60. The *steep-faced cliff.
1915. Blackw. Mag., Jan., 124/2. A *steep-gabled house.
1896. Daily News, 25 Feb., 5/4. The … *steep-grade tramway.
1885. E. P. Warren & Cleverly, Wanderings ‘Beetle,’ 140. We swung under the bridge, and ran in to the *steep-pitched landing.
1912. ‘Guy Thorne,’ Great Acceptance, x. (ed. 6), 255. Charming octagonal rooms in two turrets with *steep-pointed roofs in the style of an old French chateau.
1814. Scott, Wav., viii. The house, which seemed to consist of two or three high, narrow, and *steep-roofed buildings.
1878. A. C. Ramsay, Phys. Geog., xviii. 296. The *steep-scarped front … faces to the north-west.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. ix. 93. Large gorges … generally *steep-sided.
1872. M. Collins, Plunges for Pearl, I. vi. 116. The *steep-streeted little town of Silveroar.
1588. Kyd, Househ. Philos., Wks. (1901), 270. Whether it lie *steepeward down the hyls, vneasie and painful to be past.
B. sb.
1. The declivity or slope of a mountain, hill, cliff; a steep or precipitous place.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 133. Ryuers … wherwith al suche trees as are planted on the stiepe or foote of the mountaynes, as vines … are watered.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., II. i. 69. Why art thou heere Come from the farthest steepe [Qo. 1 steppe] of India?
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 27. Having climbed the mountaine steepe towards the sea.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 680. How often from the steep Of echoing Hill … have we heard Celestial voices.
1721. De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 76. On the steep of the rock was a bastion.
1791. W. Bartram, Carolina, 341. They then pass on rapidly to a high perpendicular steep of rocks.
1801. Campbell, Ye Mariners, 22. Britannia needs no bulwarks, No towers along the steep.
1861. M. Arnold, Southern Night, 23. There, where Gibraltar’s cannon’d steep O’erfrowns the wave.
1883. Mrs. R. T. Ritchie, Bk. Sibyls, i. 2. The old … highroad … winds its way resolutely up the steep.
1899. Daily News, 24 Oct., 5/4. He broke and fell back, being driven pell mell over the steeps to the rear of his position.
transf. 1860. Dickens, etc. Message fr. Sea, iv. Christm. Stor. (1874), 182. Having … launched the boat down the steep of the deck, into the water.
b. poet. of the sky.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 602. The setting Sun survey, When down the steep of Heav’n he drives the Day.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. II. i. Behold the new morning glittering down the eastern steeps.
1850. S. Dobell, Roman, ii. 26. Let me breathe thee round the base Of the celestial steep.
1878. Joaquin Miller, Songs of Italy, 87. I have looked to the steeps of the starry sky.
c. fig.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., VII. 705. By straining up the steep of excellent … What gains she?
1780. J. Adams, in Fam. Lett. (1876), 380. Hercules marches here in full view of the steeps of virtue on one hand and the flowery paths of pleasure on the other.
1877. L. Morris, Epic of Hades, III. 32. For Knowledge is a steep which few may climb, While Duty is a path which all may tread.
1883. S. C. Hall, Retrospect, II. 132. His first wife helped him up the steep, cheered him on the way [etc.].
1910. W. James, Mem. & Stud., 275. The notion of a sheep’s paradise like that revolts, they say, our higher imagination. Where then would be the steeps of life?
† 2. A steep (advb. phr.), steeply sloping. Obs.
1573–80. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 98. Some maketh a hollownes, halfe a foot deepe, with fower sets in it, set slant wise a steepe.
C. adv.
1. With a steep slope, abruptly.
1548. Thomas, Ital. Dict. (1550), Rattezza, quickenesse, or the goyng stype vp hyll.
1548. Elyot’s Dict., Præruptè, stype without any bendyng.
2. To run steep = to run high (HIGH adv. 9).
1894. Outing (U.S.), XXIV. 475/2. Others … are never so happy as when enjoying a glorious thresh to windward, with … the sea running steep.
† 3. With the eyes wide open. Obs.
14[?]. Guy Warw., 7730. He lokyd vp steype starande.
4. Comb. with pres. and pa. pples., as steep-ascending, -bending, -cut, -descending, -hanging, -rising, -yawning.
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 608. The *steep-ascending eagle soars With upward pinions through the flood of day.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Accliue, *stepe bendynge.
1901. G. B. Grinnell, in Harper’s Mag., CII. 741/2. They found themselves on top of a *steep-cut bluff.
1728. Thomson, Spring, Seasons (1730), 41. The trembling Steed … *steep-descending stems The headlong Torrents roaming down the Hills.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. vii. 26. Here from a craggy Rock’s *steep-hanging boss … A silver Brook in broken streams doth gush. Ibid., II. iii. III. Law, 659. Can we (like Birds) with still-*steep-rising flight Surmount these Mountains?
1725. Armstrong, Imit. Shaks., 177. Misc. Wks. 1770, I. 157. A gulph that swallows vision, with wide mouth *Steep-yawning to receive them.
