Forms: (5 stipe), 6 stepe, (steppe), 6–7 steepe, (8 stip, stiep), 7– steep. [f. STEEP v.]
1. The process of steeping or soaking; the state of being steeped, esp. in phr. (to lay) † a steep (obs.), † in a steep (obs.), in steep.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., I. 16. Take þe brothe, þe pouches & þe lyuerys wer sodoun in, in a stipe or on fayre brede.
1516. Gt. Herbal, ccccxvii. (1529), Y v b. And let the fylynge lay a stepe a day and a nyght in vynegyre.
1563. T. Gale, Antidot., II. 25. Let all these be beaten together and layed in stepe in Rose water.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXXII. vii. II. 439. The same ought first to be cut or shred small, and then to lie infused or in steepe a whole day and a night in water or vinegre.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 175. Take Plantain, Rue, [etc.] … of each an handful,… lay them in steep in a Pint of old wash.
1709. Lady G. Baillie, Household Bk. (1911), 74. For makeing 2 stip of mallt … £6.0.0.
1765. Museum Rust., III. 220. If barley is left too long on the steep in the same water, the water will grow slimy.
1800. Act 41 Geo. III., c. 6 (title), For shortening … the Time of keeping in Steep for malting, Barley damaged by Rain.
1851. A. Marshall, in H. Schroeder, Ann. Yorksh. (1851), I. 419. Turning the beets inside out for the second steep.
1876. Encycl. Brit., IV. 267/2. 811/2 bushels of good dry barley will, after forty-eight hours steep, swell to exactly 100 bushels.
1893. W. R. Mackintosh, Around Orkney Peat-Fires (1905), II. 126. A farmer in Finya, Harray, had just taken his malt out of steep, when two excisemen paid him an unexpected and unwelcome visit.
b. fig.
1592. Nashe, P. Penilesse, 18 b. I haue tearmes (if I be vext) laid in steepe in Aqua fortis.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., II. 29. She … sweete sleepe Powr’d on each wooer; which so laid in steepe Their drowsie temples, that each brow did nod.
1627. Sanderson, Serm. ad Pop., vi. § 21 (1632), 523. He … doth but lay more rods in steepe for his own back.
1895. ‘Ian Maclaren,’ Briar Bush, 255. Man [doctor], ye ’ill need tae pit yir brains in steep. Is she clean beyond ye?
† 2. The steep: the midday plunge taken by a stag in hot weather.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, e iiij b. To the stepe then thay goon yche hote day at noon…. The cause of the steepe is to weere hym fro the flee.
1576. Turberv., Venerie, xxxvii. 100. A Hart goeth to the steepe at noone in the heate of the day to keepe him from the flye. Ibid., 244. He goeth to the Steppe.
† 3. ? A steeping vessel. Obs. rare–1.
1614. in W. S. Gibson, Hist. Monast. Tynemouth (1846), II. 122. Repayring the Malthowse, Host and Steep, lx.s.
4. The liquid in which a thing is placed to undergo soaking or maceration; a prepared liquor used as a dyeing bath or cleansing wash; in Agric. a wash for seeds; often with qualifying word, as alum, bran, lime steep, etc.
1759. trans. Duhamel’s Husb., I. xvi. (1762), 102. Steeps were brought very early into use in husbandry.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 446. Steeps or pickles of these kinds appear to have been principally made use of for preparing wheat, in order to prevent it from being affected with disease.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 600. The manufacturer … is … careful to ensure their purification by subjecting them to a weak lime steep.
1882. Crookes, Dyeing & Tissue-Printing, 134. The second peachwood beck may be saved and used for the first peachwood steep of the next lot.
1897. W. G. Smith, trans. Von Tubeuf’s Dis. Plants, 65. Sterilization of the seed … is chiefly carried out by the use of ‘steeps,’ which kill the smut-spores adherent to the seed.
5. = RENNET sb.1
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 244/1. Bad Cheese … made of Burnt Milk, and of stinking and bad Runnet or Steep.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Eng. Housekpr. (1778), 255. To make Cream Cheese. Put one large spoonful of steep to five quarts of afterings.
1845. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., VI. I. 108. The rennet, or steep as it is commonly called, is next added.
1895. E. Rydings, Manx Tales, 65. And, Mrs. Kelly, I’ll be sendin’ you a boddle of steep.
b. Sc. The plant Ranunculus flammula.
1894. J. Shaw, in R. Wallace, Country Schoolm. (1899), 354. Steep, Ranunculus flammula, from its acting like rennet.
