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steel

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steel

[steel]
–noun
1. any of various modified forms of iron, artificially produced, having a carbon content less than that of pig iron and more than that of wrought iron, and having qualities of hardness, elasticity, and strength varying according to composition and heat treatment: generally categorized as having a high, medium, or low-carbon content.
2. a thing or things made of this metal.
3. a flat strip of this metal used for stiffening, esp. in corsets; stay.
4. a bar of this metal that has one end formed to hold a bit for driving through rock.
5. steels, stocks or bonds of companies producing this metal.
6. a sword.
7. a rounded rod of ridged steel, fitted with a handle and used esp. for sharpening knives.
–adjective
8. pertaining to or made of steel.
9. like steel in color, hardness, or strength.
–verb (used with object)
10. to fit with steel, as by pointing, edging, or overlaying.
11. to cause to resemble steel in some way.
12. to render insensible, inflexible, unyielding, determined, etc.: He steeled himself to perform the dangerous task.

Origin:
bef. 900; (n.) ME stele, OE (north) stēle; c. D staal, G Stahl, ON stāl; (v.) ME stelen, OE styled edged with steel, deriv. of the n.


steellike, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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steel   (stēl)   
n.  
  1. A generally hard, strong, durable, malleable alloy of iron and carbon, usually containing between 0.2 and 1.5 percent carbon, often with other constituents such as manganese, chromium, nickel, molybdenum, copper, tungsten, cobalt, or silicon, depending on the desired alloy properties, and widely used as a structural material.

  2. Something, such as a sword, that is made of steel.

  3. A quality suggestive of this alloy, especially a hard, unflinching character.

  4. Steel gray.

adj.  
    1. Made with, relating to, or consisting of steel: steel beams; the steel industry; a bicycle with a steel frame.

    2. Very firm or strong: a steel grip.

  1. Of a steel gray.

tr.v.   steeled, steel·ing, steels
  1. To cover, plate, edge, or point with steel.

  2. To make hard, strong, or obdurate; strengthen: He steeled himself for disappointment.


[Middle English stel, from Old English stȳle, stēl.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

steel 
O.E. style, from W.Gmc. adj. *stakhlijan "made of steel" (cf. O.S. stehli, O.N., M.L.G. stal, Dan. staal, Swed. stål, M.Du. stael, Du. staal, O.H.G. stahal, Ger. Stahl), related to *stakhla "standing fast," from PIE *stek-lo-, from base *stak- "to stand, place, be firm" (see stay (n.1)). No corresponding word exists outside Gmc. except those likely borrowed from Gmc. languages. The fig. verb sense of "make hard or strong like steel" is first recorded 1581. Steel wool is attested from 1896.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

Steel

The "bow of steel" in (A.V.) 2 Sam. 22:35; Job 20:24; Ps. 18:34 is in the Revised Version "bow of brass" (Heb. kesheth-nehushah). In Jer. 15:12 the same word is used, and is also rendered in the Revised Version "brass." But more correctly it is copper (q.v.), as brass in the ordinary sense of the word (an alloy of copper and zinc) was not known to the ancients.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Idioms & Phrases

steel

In addition to the idiom beginning with steel, also see mind like a steel trap.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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