steel

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   An artificial metal produced from iron, harder and more elastic than elemental iron

   An artificial metal produced from iron, harder and more elastic than elemental iron; used figuratively as a symbol of hardness.

   • Ocearium stæli.
   • Accearium steeli.
   • Þe alle þine leomen wule to-draȝen. þeh þu weore stel al.
2. 2

   Any item made of this metal, particularly including

   Any item made of this metal, particularly including:

   • For heom ne may halter ne bridel Bringe from here wode wyse, Ne mon mid stele ne mid ire.
   • For braue Macbeth (well hee deſerues that Name) Diſdayning Fortune, with his brandiſht Steele, Which ſmoak'd with bloody execution (Like Valours Minion) caru'd out his paſſage.
   • But who wou'd dream that out of abundant Charity and Brotherly Love shou'd come Steel, Fire, Gibbets, Rods.
3. 3

   Medicinal consumption of this metal

   Medicinal consumption of this metal; chalybeate medicine; (eventually) any iron or iron-treated water consumed as a medical treatment.

   • A stronger physick is now necessary, perhaps a whole course of steel: A physick, God knowes, that this Kingdome hath been under five or six yeares.
   • Steel is not so good as Iron for Medicinal Operation.
   • The Doctor tells me I must go into a Course of Steel, tho I have not the Spleen.
4. ›+ 13 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      The gray hue of this metal

      The gray hue of this metal; steel-gray, or steel blue.

      • Falkenhayn gave...to Jane a steel glacé silk dress.
   2. 5

      Extreme hardness or resilience.

   3. 6

      Made of steel.

      • Strained in stel ger on steedes of might.
      • The tyrant custome...Hath made the flinty and steele Cooch of warre, My thrice driuen bed of downe.
      • I will grasp the mountain-hedgehog, prickles and all, with my steel-gauntlet.
   4. 7

      Similar to steel in color, strength, or the like

      Similar to steel in color, strength, or the like; steely.

      • Wher neuer cessing soyle doth steelebright stuff send out from mines.
      • Prison my heart in thy steele bosomes warde.
   5. 8

      Of or belonging to the manufacture or trade in steel.

      • [T]he discoverie of the yron and steele mines.
      • From their new dungeons at Chantilly, Aristocrats may hear the rustle of our new steel furnace there.
      • East Chicago, Ind., a smoky Lake Michigan steel town that isn't exactly famous for its esthetic splendor even when the sun shines.
   6. 9

      Containing steel.

      • To mix some Sugar of steel, or steel wine with the first glass.
      • I have found a singular Virtue in Steel drops, præpared after my Mode.
      • I...take some nasty steel drops, & may head has been bettr.
   7. 10

      Engraved on steel.

      • The best picture I have had yet is the steel frontis-piece to my new book.
   8. 11

      To treat, furnish with, or transform into steel.

      • Hure þolien ant a beoren hare unirude duntes wið mealles istelet.
      • When God...draws aside his curtain, and shows his arsenal and his armory, full of arrows steeled with wrath.
      • It was the common notion...that the art of steeling tools in the highest degree of perfection was certainly lost to the moderns.
   9. 12

      To cause to resemble steel.

      • But stil he was so steelde With heart so good, as victor he dead left them in the field.
      • Giue me my heart...O giue it me lest thy hard heart do steele it, And being steeld, soft sighes can neuer graue it.
      • Ile in to vrge his hatred more to Clarence, With lies well steeld with weighty arguments.
   10. 13

       To press with a flat iron.

       • Tha hasn't tha Sense to stile thy own Dressing.
   11. 14

       Coldbath Fields Prison in London, closed in 1877.

       • I was lugged before the beak, who gave me six doss in the steel. [...] six months in the Bastille (the old House of Corrections), Coldbath Fields.
       • He said he had been in the “steel” (Coldbath Fields Prison) eight times.
       • This time I got two moon for assaulting the reelers when canon. For this I went to the Steel (Bastile^([sic]) — Coldbath Fields Prison), having a new suit of clobber on me and about fifty blow in my brigh (pocket).
   12. 15

       A surname.

   13. 16

       Bridewell Prison in London, England.

The neighborhood

• neighborcast ironsimilar in various ways but not identical
• neighborwrought ironsimilar in various ways but not identical
• neighborcast steelHyponyms from steel (noun)
• neighborcemented steelHyponyms from steel (noun)
• neighborcold steelHyponyms from steel (noun)
• neighborconcrete steelHyponyms from steel (noun)
• neighborEglin steelHyponyms from steel (noun)
• neighborMushet steelHyponyms from steel (noun)
• neighborshear steelHyponyms from steel (noun)
• neighborstainless steelHyponyms from steel (noun)
• neighborstrip steelHyponyms from steel (noun)
• neighbortool steelHyponyms from steel (noun)