steel

plural steels · alternative obsolete steele

1. countableuncountableAn artificial metal produced from iron, harder and more elastic than elemental iron; used figuratively as a symbol of hardness.

   Ocearium stæli.

   c. 725, Corpus Gloss., published 1431

   5 more examples

   Accearium steeli.

   c. 825, Epinal Gloss., section 49

   Þe alle þine leomen wule to-draȝen. þeh þu weore stel al.

   c. 1275, Laȝamon, Brut, 12916

   Employeng the steell of his swerd the most best wyse that in hym was possible.

   c. 1473, Raoul Le Fèvre, translated by William Caxton, The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, section I

   Weman...with wordis cane rycht wele our-cum mene hard as stele.

   c. 1480, St. Mary Magdalen, 408 in 1896, W. M. Metcalfe, Legends Saints Sc. Dial., I 267

   The purest part thereof [of iron ore] which in Latine is called Nucleus ferri, i. the kernell or heart of the yron (and it is that which we call steele)

   1601, Pliny, translated by P. Holland, Hist. World, II xxxiv xiv 514

2. Any item made of this metal, particularly including:
   1. countableuncountableBladed or pointed weapons, as swords, javelins, daggers.

      They have asked for the steel. They shall have it now; Out cutlasses and board!

      1892, Rudyard Kipling, Barrack-room Ballads, section 139

      4 more examples

      For heom ne may halter ne bridel Bringe from here wode wyse, Ne mon mid stele ne mid ire.

      c. 1250, The Owl & the Nightengale, published 1030

      For braue Macbeth (well hee deſerues that Name) Diſdayning Fortune, with his brandiſht Steele, Which ſmoak'd with bloody execution (Like Valours Minion) caru'd out his paſſage.

      c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], line 35

      But who wou'd dream that out of abundant Charity and Brotherly Love shou'd come Steel, Fire, Gibbets, Rods.

      1712, Lord Shaftesbury, Characteristicks, III 115

      While one man was beating off the swords, the waters stole up silently and took him. Contrariwise, another was struggling with the waves, when the steel came up and encompassed him. The flowing waters were befouled with the gory spray. Thus the Ruthenians were conquered...

      1905, Saxo Grammaticus, translated by Oliver Elton, The Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus, section II

      Synonyms: cold weapon, white arm

   2. countableuncountableA piece used for striking sparks from flint or ferrocerium.

      The Cock falling with its wonted violence upon the Steel.

      1660, Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-mechanicall, XIV 89

      1 more example

      Of ston mid stel in ðe tunder wel to brennen one ðis wunder.

      c. 1220, Bestiary, section 535

      Synonyms: firesteel, striker, firestriker

   3. countableuncountableArmor.

      In compleate steele.

      c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], page 33

      2 more examples

      Þai gun hem boþe armi In iren and stiel þat tide.

      c. 1330, Sir Tristrem, L 3324

      She that has [chastity], is clad in compleat steel.

      Comus

      1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 421

   4. countableuncountableA honing steel, a tool used to sharpen or hone metal blades.

      The steill to scherp the schawing jrne.

      1541 in 1844, J. Stuart, Extracts of the Council Register of Aberdeen, I 176

      1 more example

      When he came to Nottingham, he entered that part of the market where butchers stood, and took up his inn in the best place he could find. Next, he opened his stall and spread his meat upon the bench, then, taking his cleaver and steel and clattering them together, he trolled aloud in merry tones...

      1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC

   5. countableuncountablebusinessPieces used to strengthen, support, or expand an item of clothing.

      I suppose the bullet must have struck the steels in my corsets.

      1904 February 22, Daily Chron, 5 4

      1 more example

      I haue a ruffe is a quarter deep, measured by the yeard... You haue a pretty set too, how big is the steele you set with?

      1608, G. Markham et al., Dumbe Knight, section I

   6. countabledialectaluncountableA flat iron.

      One of them having occasion to use a Steele, smoothing Iron, or some such kinde of Laundry Instrument.

      1638, J. Taylor, Bull, Beare, & Horse, C5

   7. countabledialectaluncountablebusinessA sewing needle; a knitting needle; a sharp metal stylus.

      The threaded steel...Flies swiftly.

      1785, William Cowper, Task, IV 165

   8. countableuncountablemediaAn engraving plate.

      A re-issue of the Examples of the Architecture of Venice. By John Ruskin... With the Text, and the 16 Plates (10 Steels and 6 Lithographs) as originally published.

      1887 June 11, Athenæum, 779 1

   9. countableuncountableProjectiles.

      The crews at the port batteries were pumping steel at the enemy.

      1898 June 1, Westminster Gazette, 5 1

   10. countableuncountablebusinessA fringe of beads or decoration of this metal.

       A trailing skirt embroidered in what is termed fine steel.

       1899 January 26, Daily News, 6 3

   11. countableuncountableentertainmentA type of slide used while playing the steel guitar.
3. obsoleteuncountablemedicineMedicinal consumption of this metal; chalybeate medicine; (eventually) any iron or iron-treated water consumed as a medical treatment.

   I...am really only kept alive by steel.

   1866, Princess Alice, Mem., section 158

   3 more examples

   A stronger physick is now necessary, perhaps a whole course of steel: A physick, God knowes, that this Kingdome hath been under five or six yeares.

   1649, H. Hammond, Christians Obligations, X 253

   Steel is not so good as Iron for Medicinal Operation.

   1704, J. Harris, Lexicon Technicum, volume L

   The Doctor tells me I must go into a Course of Steel, tho I have not the Spleen.

   1712 September 18, Journal to Stella, Jonathan Swift, II 558

4. uncountablecolorsThe gray hue of this metal; steel-gray, or steel blue.

   Falkenhayn gave...to Jane a steel glacé silk dress.

   1851 Dec 28, E. Ruskin, letter in 1965, M. Lutyens, Effie in Venice, II 236

   1 more example

   It was a clear steel-blue day. The firmaments of air and sea were hardly separable in that all-pervading azure; only, the pensive air was transparently pure and soft, with a woman’s look, and the robust and man-like sea heaved with long, strong, lingering swells, as Samson’s chest in his sleep.

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Chapter 132”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

5. countablefigurativelyuncountableExtreme hardness or resilience.

alternative obsolete steele

1. not comparableMade of steel.

   Strained in stel ger on steedes of might.

   mid-14th century, Alisaunder, 416

   3 more examples

   The tyrant custome...Hath made the flinty and steele Cooch of warre, My thrice driuen bed of downe.

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], line 229

   I will grasp the mountain-hedgehog, prickles and all, with my steel-gauntlet.

   1829 May 2, [Walter Scott], chapter III, in Anne of Geierstein; or, The Maiden of the Mist. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Company] for Cadell and Co., […]; London: Simpkin and Marshall, […], →OCLC, page 78

   King Peter attributed his father's, King Alexander's, death to the fact that...he had not worn his steel-mesh bullet-proof shirt.

   1976, J. Wheeler-Bennett, Friends, Enemies, & Sovereigns, V, 156

2. not comparableSimilar to steel in color, strength, or the like; steely.

   Prison my heart in thy steele bosomes warde.

   1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 133”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC

   1 more example

   Wher neuer cessing soyle doth steelebright stuff send out from mines.

   c. 1560, Vergil, translated by T. Phaer, Nyne Fyrst Books of the Eneidos, section X

3. not comparablebusinessOf or belonging to the manufacture or trade in steel.

   [T]he discoverie of the yron and steele mines.

   1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book VII.] LVI.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 188

   2 more examples

   From their new dungeons at Chantilly, Aristocrats may hear the rustle of our new steel furnace there.

   1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter VI, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume III (The Guillotine), London: James Fraser, […], →OCLC, book V (Terror the Order of the Day), page 327

   East Chicago, Ind., a smoky Lake Michigan steel town that isn't exactly famous for its esthetic splendor even when the sun shines.

   1976 January 24, National Observer, 1, 1

4. not comparableobsoletemedicineContaining steel.

   I...take some nasty steel drops, & may head has been bettr.

   1713 February 17, Journal to Stella, Jonathan Swift, II, 622

   2 more examples

   To mix some Sugar of steel, or steel wine with the first glass.

   1652, J. French, York-shire Spaw, X, 92

   I have found a singular Virtue in Steel drops, præpared after my Mode.

   1675, G. Harvey, Dis. of London, XXIV, 264

5. not comparablemediaEngraved on steel.

   The best picture I have had yet is the steel frontis-piece to my new book.

   1880, Mark Twain, letter

present singular third person steels · participle present steeling · participle past steeled · past steeled · alternative obsolete steele

1. To treat, furnish with, or transform into steel.
   1. literallytransitiveTo edge, cover, or point with steel.

      Hure þolien ant a beoren hare unirude duntes wið mealles istelet.

      c. 1240, “Sawles Warde”, in The Cotton Homilies, section 253

      2 more examples

      When God...draws aside his curtain, and shows his arsenal and his armory, full of arrows steeled with wrath.

      1651, Bishop Jeremy Taylor, XXVIII Sermons Preacht at Golden Grove, Being for the Summer Half-year, XIX 248

      It was the common notion...that the art of steeling tools in the highest degree of perfection was certainly lost to the moderns.

      1831, John Holland, A Treatise on the Progressive Improvement and Present State of the Manufactures in Metal, I 220

   2. literallyobsoletetransitiveTo back with steel.

      Nay, a Crystall glasse will not show a man his face, except it be steeled, except it be darkned on the backside.

      c. 1630, John Donne, Sermons, VI 289

   3. literallyobsoletetransitivemedicineTo treat a liquid with steel for medicinal purposes.

      She drunk her drink steeled, with which she was cured.

      1657, J. Hall, translated by J. Cooke, Cures, section 117

   4. literallytransitiveTo electroplate an item (particularly an engraving plate) with a layer of iron.

      My large dry-point,...called Two Stumps of Driftwood, gave 1000 copies (after being steeled) without perceptible wearing.

      1880, P. G. Hamerton, Etching & Etchers, 3rd edition, section 342

   5. literallytransitiveTo sharpen with a honing steel.
   6. literallytransitiveTo steelify; to turn iron into steel.

      By passing an electric current thus through the bars the operation of steeling is much hastened.

      1853, Jrnl. Franklin Inst., CXXV 303

      1 more example

      It seems evident that by the beginning of the 10th century B.C. blacksmiths were intentionally steeling iron.

      1977 Oct, Scientific American, 127 1

2. To cause to resemble steel.
   1. figurativelytransitiveTo harden or strengthen; to nerve or make obdurate; to fortify against.

      Steel yourself, then, firmly to withstand attacks from the cruel and unfeeling.

      1796, F. Burney, Camilla, II iv vi 370

      4 more examples

      But stil he was so steelde With heart so good, as victor he dead left them in the field.

      1581, Homer, translated by A. Hall, 10 Bks. Iliades, VI 110

      Giue me my heart...O giue it me lest thy hard heart do steele it, And being steeld, soft sighes can neuer graue it.

      1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC

      Ile in to vrge his hatred more to Clarence, With lies well steeld with weighty arguments.

      c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], line 148

      The rich experience of a long life steeled in the victorious struggle with every unchristian element.

      1882, F. W. Farrar, Early Days Christianity, II 380

   2. figurativelyliterarypoetictransitiveTo give (something) the appearance of steel.

      And lo! those waters, steeled By breezeless air to smoothest polish, yield A vivid repetition of the stars.

      1807, William Wordsworth, Sonn. to Liberty, II v

3. dialectaltransitiveTo press with a flat iron.

   Tha hasn't tha Sense to stile thy own Dressing.

   1746, Exmoor Scolding, 3rd edition, II 14

alternative obsolete steele

1. UKobsoleteslangtransitivecrimeColdbath Fields Prison in London, closed in 1877.

   He said he had been in the “steel” (Coldbath Fields Prison) eight times.

   1866, George Augustus Sala, Edmund Hodgson Yates, Temple Bar, volume 16, page 507

   2 more examples

   I was lugged before the beak, who gave me six doss in the steel. [...] six months in the Bastille (the old House of Corrections), Coldbath Fields.

   1862, Havelock Ellis, The Criminal, page 162

   This time I got two moon for assaulting the reelers when canon. For this I went to the Steel (Bastile^([sic]) — Coldbath Fields Prison), having a new suit of clobber on me and about fifty blow in my brigh (pocket).

   1879, Macmillan's Magazine, volume 40, page 502

1. A surname.

1. UKhistoricalobsoleteslangBridewell Prison in London, England.