steek

S1T1E1E1K5
/stiːk/

verb

To stitch (sew with a needle).

OriginScots steek ← Middle English steke ← Middle Dutch steken →
Scrabble 9
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbsteek (third-person singular simple present steeks, present participle steeking, simple past and past participle steeked)

present singular third person steeks · participle present steeking · participle past steeked · past steeked · alternative steik

  1. To stitch (sew with a needle).
  2. To shut or close.
  3. businessTo use a technique for knitting garments such as sweaters in the round without interruption for openings or sleeves until the end.
nounsteek (plural steeks)

plural steeks · alternative steik

  1. ScotlandA stitch.

    Ake Ogilvie told the tale the next day to Ma Cleghorn, Ma lying at rest in her bed, she'd gone to bed with a steek in her side and as lying fair wearied till Ake looked in.

    1934, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Grey Granite (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 565
  2. businessThe bridge of extra stitches used in the steeking technique.

Origin

  1. Middle Dutchsteek“stitch”
  2. Scotssteek“stitch”
  3. Middle Dutchsteken“to stitch”
  4. Middle Englishsteke“to enclose”
  5. Scotssteek
  6. Englishsteek

From Scots steek, from Middle English steke (“to enclose”) and Middle Dutch steken (“to stitch”). Noun from Scots steek (“stitch”), from Middle Dutch steek (“stitch”). More at stick, stitch.

More words from Scots, Middle English, Middle Dutch

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

skeetTeskeskete
Cite this entry
APA

steek. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/steek

MLA

“steek.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/steek. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “steek,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/steek.

Source: steek on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.