Stenography Ste·nog"ra·phy noun [ Greek steno`s narrow, close + graphy : confer French sténographie , German stenographie .] The art of writing in shorthand, by using abbreviations or characters for whole words; shorthand.

Stenophyllous Ste·noph"yl·lous adjective [ Greek steno`s narrow + fy`llon leaf.] (Botany) Having narrow leaves.

Stenosis Ste·no"sis noun [ New Latin , from Greek steno`s narrow.] (Medicine) A narrowing of the opening or hollow of any passage, tube, or orifice; as, stenosis of the pylorus. It differs from stricture in being applied especially to diffused rather than localized contractions, and in always indicating an origin organic and not spasmodic.

Stenostome Sten"o·stome adjective [ Greek steno`s narrow, little + sto`ma mouth.] (Zoology) Having a small or narrow mouth; -- said of certain small ground snakes ( Opoterodonta ), which are unable to dilate their jaws.

Stent Stent transitive verb [ Obsolete imperfect Stente ; obsolete past participle Stent .] [ See Stint .] To keep within limits; to restrain; to cause to stop, or cease; to stint.

Then would he weep, he might not be stent .

Chaucer.

Yet n'ould she stent
Her bitter railing and foul revilement.

Spenser.

Stent Stent intransitive verb To stint; to stop; to cease.

And of this cry they would never stenten .

Chaucer.

Stent Stent noun An allotted portion; a stint. "Attain'd his journey's stent ." Mir. for Mag.

Stenting Stent"ing noun An opening in a wall in a coal mine. [ Written also stenton .] [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Stentor Sten"tor noun [ Latin Stentor , Greek ....] 1. A herald, in the Iliad, who had a very loud voice; hence, any person having a powerful voice.

2. (Zoology) Any species of ciliated Infusoria belonging to the genus Stentor and allied genera, common in fresh water. The stentors have a bell-shaped, or cornucopia- like, body with a circle of cilia around the spiral terminal disk. See Illust. under Heterotricha .

3. (Zoology) A howling monkey, or howler.

Stentorian Sten·to"ri·an adjective [ Latin stentoreus ; confer Greek ....] Of or pertaining to a stentor; extremely loud; powerful; as, a stentorian voice; stentorian lungs.

Stentorin Sten"to·rin noun (Chemistry) A blue coloring matter found in some stentors. See Stentor , 2.

Stentorious Sten·to"ri·ous adjective Stentorian. [ R.]

Stentoronic Sten`to·ron"ic adjective Stentorian. [ Obsolete]

Stentorophonic Sten`to·ro·phon"ic adjective [ Greek ... Stentor + ... a sound, voice. See Stentor .] Speaking or sounding very loud; stentorian. [ Obsolete]

Of this stentorophonic horn of Alexander there is a preserved in the Vatican.

Derham.

Step Step intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Stepped ; present participle & verbal noun Stepping .] [ Anglo-Saxon stæppan ; akin to OFries. steppa , Dutch stappen to step, stap a step, Old High German stepfen to step, German stapfe a footstep, Old High German stapfo , German stufe a step to step on; confer Greek ... to shake about, handle roughly, stamp. Confer Stamp , noun & adjective ] 1. To move the foot in walking; to advance or recede by raising and moving one of the feet to another resting place, or by moving both feet in succession.

2. To walk; to go on foot; esp., to walk a little distance; as, to step to one of the neighbors.

3. To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely.

Home the swain retreats,
His flock before him stepping to the fold.

Thomson.

4. Fig.: To move mentally; to go in imagination.

They are stepping almost three thousand years back into the remotest antiquity.

Pope.

To step aside , to walk a little distance from the rest; to retire from company. -- To step forth , to move or come forth. -- To step in or into . (a) To walk or advance into a place or state, or to advance suddenly in.

Whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in , was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

John v. 4.

(b) To enter for a short time; as, I just stepped into the house. (c) To obtain possession without trouble; to enter upon easily or suddenly; as, to step into an estate . -- To step out . (a) (Mil.) To increase the length, but not the rapidity, of the step, extending it to thirty-tree inches. (b) To go out for a short distance or a short time . -- To step short (Mil.) , to diminish the length or rapidity of the step according to the established rules.

Step Step transitive verb 1. To set, as the foot.

2. (Nautical) To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect.

To step off , to measure by steps, or paces; hence, to divide, as a space, or to form a series of marks, by successive measurements, as with dividers.

Step Step noun [ Anglo-Saxon stæpe . See Step , intransitive verb ] 1. An advance or movement made by one removal of the foot; a pace.

2. A rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a round of a ladder.

The breadth of every single step or stair should be never less than one foot.

Sir H. Wotton.

3. The space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running; as, one step is generally about three feet, but may be more or less. Used also figuratively of any kind of progress; as, he improved step by step , or by steps .

To derive two or three general principles of motion from phenomena, and afterwards to tell us how the properties and actions of all corporeal things follow from those manifest principles, would be a very great step in philosophy.

Sir I. Newton.

4. A small space or distance; as, it is but a step .

5. A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track.

6. Gait; manner of walking; as, the approach of a man is often known by his step .

7. Proceeding; measure; action; an act.

The reputation of a man depends on the first steps he makes in the world.

Pope.

Beware of desperate steps . The darkest day,
Live till to-morrow, will have passed away.

Cowper.

I have lately taken steps . . . to relieve the old gentleman's distresses.

G. W. Cable.

8. plural Walk; passage.

Conduct my steps to find the fatal tree.

Dryden.

9. plural A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position.

10. (Nautical) In general, a framing in wood or iron which is intended to receive an upright shaft; specif., a block of wood, or a solid platform upon the keelson, supporting the heel of the mast.

11. (Machinery) (a) One of a series of offsets, or parts, resembling the steps of stairs, as one of the series of parts of a cone pulley on which the belt runs. (b) A bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves.

12. (Mus.) The intervak between two contiguous degrees of the csale.

» The word tone is often used as the name of this interval; but there is evident incongruity in using tone for indicating the interval between tones. As the word scale is derived from the Italian scala , a ladder, the intervals may well be called steps .

13. (Kinematics) A change of position effected by a motion of translation. W. K. Clifford.

Back step , Half step , etc. See under Back , Half , etc. -- Step grate , a form of grate for holding fuel, in which the bars rise above one another in the manner of steps. -- To take steps , to take action; to move in a matter.

Step Step noun (Fives) At Eton College, England, a shallow step dividing the court into an inner and an outer portion.

Step- Step- [ Anglo-Saxon steóp- ; akin to OFries. stiap- , stiep- , D. & German stief- , Old High German stiuf- , Icelandic stj...p- , Swedish styf- , and to Anglo-Saxon āstēpan , āsteópan , to deprive, bereave, as children of their parents, Old High German stiufen .] A prefix used before father , mother , brother , sister , son , daughter , child , etc., to indicate that the person thus spoken of is not a blood relative, but is a relative by the marriage of a parent; as, a step mother to X is the wife of the father of X, married by him after the death of the mother of X. See Stepchild , Stepdaughter , Stepson , etc.

Step-down Step"-down` adjective (Electricity) Transforming or converting a current of high potential or pressure into one of low pressure; as, a step-down transformer.

Step-up Step"-up` adjective (Electricity) Transforming or converting a low-pressure current into one of high pressure; as, a step-up transformer.

Stepbrother Step"broth`er noun A brother by the marriage of one's father with the mother of another, or of one's mother with the father of another.

Stepchild Step"child` noun [ Anglo-Saxon steópcild .] 1. A bereaved child; one who has lost father or mother. [ Obsolete]

2. A son or daughter of one's wife or husband by a former marriage.

Stepdame Step"dame` noun A stepmother. Spenser.

Stepdaughter Step"daugh`ter noun [ Anglo-Saxon steópdohtor .] A daughter of one's wife or husband by a former marriage.

Stepfather Step"fa`ther noun [ Anglo-Saxon steópfæder .] The husband of one's mother by a subsequent marriage.

Stephanion Ste·pha"ni·on noun [ New Latin , from Greek ... a crown.] (Anat.) The point on the side of the skull where the temporal line, or upper edge of the temporal fossa, crosses the coronal suture.

Stephanite Steph"an·ite noun [ So named after the Archduke Stephan , mining director of Austria.] (Min.) A sulphide of antimony and silver of an iron-black color and metallic luster; called also black silver , and brittle silver ore .

Stephanotis Steph`a·no"tis noun [ New Latin , from Greek ... fit for a crown, from ... crown.] 1. (Botany) A genus of climbing asclepiadaceous shrubs, of Madagascar, Malaya, etc. They have fleshy or coriaceous opposite leaves, and large white waxy flowers in cymes.

2. A perfume said to be prepared from the flowers of Stephanotis floribunda .

Stepladder Step"lad`der noun A portable set of steps.

Stepmother Step"moth`er noun [ Anglo-Saxon steópmōder .] The wife of one's father by a subsequent marriage.

Stepparent Step"par`ent noun Stepfather or stepmother.

Steppe Steppe noun [ From Russian stepe , through G. or French steppe .] One of the vast plains in Southeastern Europe and in Asia, generally elevated, and free from wood, analogous to many of the prairies in Western North America. See Savanna .

Steppe murrain . (Far.) See Rinderpest .

Stepped Stepped adjective Provided with a step or steps; having a series of offsets or parts resembling the steps of stairs; as, a stepped key.

Stepped gear , a cogwheel of which the teeth cross the face in a series of steps.

Stepper Step"per noun One who, or that which, steps; as, a quick stepper .

Stepping-stone Step"ping-stone` noun 1. A stone to raise the feet above the surface of water or mud in walking.

2. Fig.: A means of progress or advancement.

These obstacles his genius had turned into stepping- stones .

Macaulay.

That men may rise on stepping-stones
Of their dead selves to higher things.

Tennyson.

Stepsister Step"sis`ter noun A daughter of one's stepfather or stepmother by a former marriage.

Stepson Step"son` noun [ Anglo-Saxon steópsunu .] A son of one's husband or wife by a former marriage.

Stepstone Step"stone` noun A stone laid before a door as a stair to rise on in entering the house.

Stercobilin Ster`co·bi"lin noun [ Latin stercus dung + English bilin .] (Physiol. Chem.) A coloring matter found in the fæces, a product of the alteration of the bile pigments in the intestinal canal, -- identical with hydrobilirubin .

Stercolin Ster"co·lin noun [ Latin stercus dung + ol eum oil.] (Physiol. Chem.) Same as Serolin (b) .

Stercoraceous Ster`co·ra"ceous adjective [ Latin stercus , -oris , dung.] Of or pertaining to dung; partaking of the nature of, or containing, dung.

Stercoranism Ster"co·ra·nism noun (Eccl. Hist.) The doctrine or belief of the Stercoranists.

Stercoranist Ster"co·ra·nist noun [ Late Latin stercoranista , from Latin stercus , -oris , dung.] (Eccl. Hist.) A nickname formerly given to those who held, or were alleged to hold, that the consecrated elements in the eucharist undergo the process of digestion in the body of the recipient.

Stercorarian Ster`co·ra"ri·an noun A Stercoranist.

Stercorary Ster"co·ra·ry noun [ Late Latin stercorarium , from Latin stercorarius belonging to dung.] A place, properly secured from the weather, for containing dung.

Stercorate Ster"co·rate noun Excrement; dung. [ Obsolete]

Stercoration Ster`co·ra"tion noun [ Latin stercoratio , from stercorare to dung.] Manuring with dung. [ Obsolete] Bacon.

Stercorianism Ster·co"ri·an·ism noun (Eccl.) The doctrine or belief of the Stercoranists.

Stercorin Ster"co·rin noun [ Latin stercus , -oris , dung.] (Physiol. Chem.) Same as Serolin (b) .

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