step

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act of changing location by raising the foot and setting it down

   The toddler walked with unsteady steps.

2. 2
   noun

   a sequence of foot movements that make up a particular dance

   I taught them the waltz step.

3. 3
   noun

   support consisting of a place to rest the foot while ascending or descending a stairway

   I paused on the bottom step.

4. 4
   noun

   the sound of a step of someone walking

   I heard footsteps on the porch.

5. 5
   noun

   the distance covered by a step

   They paced off ten steps from the old tree and began to dig.

6. 6
   noun

   a short distance

   it's only a step to the drugstore

7. 7
   noun

   relative position in a graded series

   always a step behind

8. 8
   verb

   move or proceed as if by steps into a new situation

   They stepped into a life of luxury.

Etymology

From Middle English steppen, from Old English steppan (“to step, go, proceed, advance”), stepe (“step”), from Proto-West Germanic *stappjan, from Proto-Germanic *stapjaną (“to step”), *stapiz (“step”), from Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ- (“to support, stomp, curse, be amazed”). Cognate with West Frisian stappe (“to step”), North Frisian stape (“to walk, trudge”), Dutch stappen (“to step, walk”), Walloon steper (“to walk away, leave”), German stapfen (“to trudge, stomp, plod”) and further to Slavic Polish stąpać (“to stomp, stamp, step, tread”), Russian ступать (stupatʹ) and Polish stopień (“step,…