STEP, v.i. [Gr., the foot. The sense is to set, as the foot, or move probably to open or part, to stretch or extend.]

1. A pace; an advance or movement made by one removal of the foot.
2. One remove in ascending or descending; a stair. The breadth of every single step or stair should be never less than one foot. – Wotton.
3. The space passed by the foot in walking or running. The step of one foot is generally five feet; it may be more or less.
4. A small space or distance. Let us go to the gardens; it is but a step.
5. The distance between the feet in walking or running.
6. Gradation; degree. We advance in improvement step by step, or by steps.
7. Progression; act of advancing. To derive two or three general principles of motion from phenomena, and afterward tell us how the properties and actions of all corporeal things follow from those manifest principles, would be a great step in philosophy. – Newton.
8. Footstep; print or impression of the foot; track. – Dryden.
9. Gait; manner of walking. The approach of a man is often known by his step.
10. Proceeding; measure; action. The reputation of a man depends on the first steps he makes in the world. – Pope.
11. The round of a ladder.
12. Steps in the plural, walk; passage. Conduct my steps to find the fatal tree / In this deep forest. – Dryden.
13. Pieces of timber in which the foot of a mast is fixed.
14. The bottom support on which the lower end of an upright shaft or wheel rests. – Haldiman.

1. To move the foot; to advance or recede by a movement of the foot or feet; as, to step forward, or to step backward.
2. To go; to walk a little distance; as, to step to one of the neighbors.
3. To walk gravely, slowly or resolutely. Home the swain retreats, / His flock before him stepping to the fold. – Thomson. To step forth, to move or come forth. – Cowley. To step aside, to walk to a little distance; to retire from company. To step in or into, to walk or advance into a place or state or to advance suddenly in. John v. #2. To enter for a short time. I just stepped into the house. #3. To obtain possession without trouble; to enter upon suddenly; as, to step into an estate. To step back, to move mentally; to carry the mind back. They are stepping almost three thousand years back into the remotest antiquity. – Pope.

1. To set, as the foot.
2. To fix the foot of a mast in the keel; to erect. – Mar. Dict.

1. To move the foot in walking] to advance or recede by raising and moving one of the feet to another resting place, or by moving both feet in succession.
2. To set, as the foot.
3. An advance or movement made by one removal of the foot; a pace.
4. A prefix used before father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, child, etc., to indicate that the person thus spoken of is not a blood relative, but is a relative by the marriage of a parent; as, a stepmother to X is the wife of the father of X, married by him after the death of the mother of X. See Stepchild, Stepdaughter, Stepson, etc.
5. At Eton College, England, a shallow step dividing the court into an inner and an outer portion.
6. To walk; to go on foot; esp., to walk a little distance; as, to step to one of the neighbors.
7. To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect.
   
   

   To step off, to measure by steps, or paces; hence, to divide, as a space, or to form a series of marks, by successive measurements, as with dividers.

8. A rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a round of a ladder.
   
   

   The breadth of every single step or stair should be never less than one foot. Sir H. Wotton.

9. To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely.
   
   

   Home the swain retreats,
   His flock before him stepping to the fold. Thomson.

10. The space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running; as, one step is generally about three feet, but may be more or less. Used also figuratively of any kind of progress; as, he improved step by step, or by steps.
    
    

    To derive two or three general principles of motion from phenomena, and afterwards to tell us how the properties and actions of all corporeal things follow from those manifest principles, would be a very great step in philosophy. Sir I. Newton.

11. Fig.: To move mentally; to go in imagination.
    
    

    They are stepping almost three thousand years back into the remotest antiquity. Pope.

    To step aside, to walk a little distance from the rest; to retire from company. -- To step forth, to move or come forth. -- To step in or into. (a) To walk or advance into a place or state, or to advance suddenly in.

    Whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. John v. 4.

    (b) To enter for a short time; as, I just stepped into the house. (c) To obtain possession without trouble; to enter upon easily or suddenly; as, to step into an estate. -- To step out. (a) (Mil.) To increase the length, but not the rapidity, of the step, extending it to thirty-tree inches. (b) To go out for a short distance or a short time. -- To step short (Mil.), to diminish the length or rapidity of the step according to the established rules.

12. A small space or distance; as, it is but a step.
13. A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track.
14. Gait; manner of walking; as, the approach of a man is often known by his step.
15. Proceeding; measure; action; an act.
    
    

    The reputation of a man depends on the first steps he makes in the world. Pope.

    Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day,
    Live till to-morrow, will have passed away. Cowper.

    I have lately taken steps . . . to relieve the old gentleman's distresses. G. W. Cable.

16. Walk; passage.
    
    

    Conduct my steps to find the fatal tree. Dryden.

17. A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position.
18. In general, a framing in wood or iron which is intended to receive an upright shaft; specif., a block of wood, or a solid platform upon the keelson, supporting the heel of the mast.
19. One of a series of offsets, or parts, resembling the steps of stairs, as one of the series of parts of a cone pulley on which the belt runs.
    
    
    (b)
20. The intervak between two contiguous degrees of the csale.
    
    

    * The word tone is often used as the name of this interval; but there is evident incongruity in using tone for indicating the interval between tones. As the word scale is derived from the Italian scala, a ladder, the intervals may well be called steps.

21. A change of position effected by a motion of translation.
    
    
    W. K. Clifford.

    Back step, Half step, etc. See under Back, Half, etc. -- Step grate, a form of grate for holding fuel, in which the bars rise above one another in the manner of steps. -- To take steps, to take action; to move in a matter.