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 steeping
Contemporary Examples
After steeping in this environment for a year, Sontag became the high priestess of French avant-garde culture.
Must Reads: Kennedy, Sontag and Paris, ‘A Partial History of Lost Causes,’ ‘City of Bohane,’ ‘Flatscreen’Lauren Elkin, Mythili Rao, Drew Toal, Nicholas Mancusi
April 6, 2012
All you need to do is shake up the steeping grounds a few hours in.
Historical Examples
The water which is taken off is sour, and is called sure water: this is the proper leaven for the first steeping of the materials.
Silk may be dyed crimson, by steeping it in a solution of alum, and then dyeing it in the usual way in a cochineal bath.
He went more slowly, steeping his senses in the aroma of luxury.
Nicanor - Teller of TalesC. Bryson Taylor
The Indians think that a calm is caused by the winds' steeping.
Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 (of 3)James Athearn Jones
The stalks are then bundled and retted by steeping in pools of stagnant water.
TextilesWilliam H. Dooley
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 steeping
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.