steep2
- to soak in water or other liquid, as to soften, cleanse, or extract some constituent: to steep tea in boiling-hot water; to steep reeds for basket weaving.
- to wet thoroughly in or with a liquid; drench; saturate; imbue.
- to immerse in or saturate or imbue with some pervading, absorbing, or stupefying influence or agency: an incident steeped in mystery.
- to lie soaking in a liquid.
- the act or process of steeping or the state of being steeped.
- a liquid in which something is steeped.
Origin of steep2
Synonyms
See more synonyms for steep on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for steeped
Contemporary Examples
In June, a source close to the hiring process told me, “they want somebody who has been steeped in that political warfare.”
A source close to the hiring process told me, “They want somebody who has been steeped in that political warfare.”
Few other male groups were as as steeped in the girl-group genre, or as comfortable embracing its clichés.
America is just too steeped in violence to save itself from guns.
Former State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley says Flournoy is “steeped in the challenges that we confront.”
Historical Examples
But I left you eating lotus, hollow-eyed and steeped in dreams.
Quaint CourtshipsVarious
He was hardened, steeped in guilt, and callous as to the sufferings of others.
Henry DunbarM. E. Braddon
The ginger must be steeped over-night, that you may be able to cut it.
The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory;Charlotte Campbell Bury
The shower of roses around and on her steeped her in pinkness.
Abbe Mouret's TransgressionEmile Zola
In proportion to the time they are steeped in the liquor, ivory or bones will be capable of receiving any new impression.
steep1
- having or being a slope or gradient approaching the perpendicular
- (as noun)the steep
- informal (of a fee, price, demand, etc) unduly high; unreasonable (esp in the phrase that's a bit steep)
- informal excessively demanding or ambitiousa steep task
- British informal (of a statement) extreme or far-fetched
- obsolete elevated
Word Origin
steep2
- to soak or be soaked in a liquid in order to soften, cleanse, extract an element, etc
- (tr; usually passive) to saturate; imbuesteeped in ideology
- an instance or the process of steeping or the condition of being steeped
- a liquid or solution used for the purpose of steeping something
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for steeped
steep
adj.
"having a sharp slope," Old English steap "high, lofty," from Proto-Germanic *staupaz (cf. Old Frisian stap, Middle High German *stouf), from PIE *steup- "to push, stick, knock, beat," with derivations referring to projecting objects (cf. Greek typtein "to strike," typos "a blow, mold, die;" Sanskrit tup- "harm," tundate "pushes, stabs;" Gothic stautan "push;" Old Norse stuttr "short"). The sense of "precipitous" is from c.1200. The slang sense "at a high price" is a U.S. coinage first attested 1856. Related: Steeply; steepness.
steep
v.
"to soak in a liquid," late 14c., of uncertain origin, originally in reference to barley or malt, probably cognate with Old Norse steypa "to pour out, throw" (or an unrecorded Old English cognate), from Proto-Germanic *staupijanan. Related: Steeped; steeping.