SG Heritage Dictionary

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Step [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. A pace; an advance or movement made by one removal of the foot.

2. One remove in ascending or descending; a stair.

3. The breadth of every single step or stair should be neer less than one foot.

4. The space passed by the foot in walking or running. The step of one foot is generally five feet; it may be more or less.

5. A small space or distance. Let us go to the gardens; it is but a step

6. The distance between the feet in walking or running.

7. Gradation; degree. We advance improvement step by step or by steps.

8. Progression; act of advancing.

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

10. Footstep; print or impression of the foot; track.

11. Gait; manner of walking. The approach of a man is often known by his step

12. Proceeding; measure; action.

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

14. The round of a ladder.

15. Steps in the plural, walk; passage.

16. Conduct my steps to find the fatal tree in this deep forest.

17. Pieces of timber in which the foot of a mast is fixed.

Step [Verb intransitive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. To move the foot; to advance or recede by a movement of the foot or feet; as, to step forward, or to step backward.

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

3. To walk gravely, slowly or resolutely.

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

5. To step forth, to move or come forth.

6. To step aside, to walk to a little distance; to retire from company.

7. To step in or into,

8. To walk or advance into a place or state; or to advance suddenly in John 5:1 .

9. To enter for a short time. I just stepped into the house for a moment.

10. To obtain possession without trouble; to enter upon suddenly; as, to step into an estate.

11. To step back, to move mentally; to carry the mind back.

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

Step [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. To set, as the foot.

2. To fix the foot of a mast in the keel; to erect.

Step [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

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.

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

Step [Verb intransitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

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.

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.

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.

8. Walk; passage.

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

10. 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. 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.

12. A bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves.

13. The intervak between two contiguous degrees of the csale.

14. A change of position effected by a motion of translation.

Step [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. To set, as the foot.

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

Step- Webster's Dictionary 1913

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 stepmother 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-brother [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

A brother-in-law, or by marriage.

Step-dame [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

A mother by marriage, [the mother of an orphan or one deprived.]

Step-daughter [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

A daughter by marriage, [an orphan daughter.]

Step-father [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

A father-in-law; a father by marriage only; [the father of an orphan.]

Step-mother [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

A mother by marriage only; a mother-in-law; [the mother of an orphan.]

Step-sister [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

A sister-in-law, or by marriage, [an orphan sister.]

Step-son [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. A son-in-law, [an orphan son.]

2. [In the foregoing explication of step, I have followed Lye. The D. And G. Write stief, and the Swedes styf, before the name; a word which does not appear to be connected with any verb signifying to bereave, and the word is not without some difficulties. I have given the explanation which appears to be most probably correct. If the radical sense of step, a pace, is to part or open, the word coincides with Sax. Stepan, to deprive, and in the compounds above, step may imply removal or distance.]

Step-stone [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

A stone laid before a door as a stair to rise on in entering the house.

Stepbrother [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

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 [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. A bereaved child; one who has lost father or mother.

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

Stepdame [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

A stepmother.

Stepdaughter [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

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

Stepfather [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

The husband of one's mother by a subsequent marriage.

Stephanion [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

The point on the side of the skull where the temporal line, or upper edge of the temporal fossa, crosses the coronal suture.

Stephanite [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

A sulphide of antimony and silver of an iron-black color and metallic luster; called also black silver, and brittle silver ore.

Stephanotis [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. 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.

Stephanus byzantius Encyclopedia Britannica

STEPHANUS BYZANTIUS, the author of a geographical dictionary entitled 'E θvικα , of which, apart from some fragments, we possess only the beggarly epitome of one Hermolaus. This work was first edited under the title II ερὶ πόλεων (Aldus, Venice, 1502); there are modern editions by Dindorf (1825), Westermann (1839), and Meineke (vol. i., 1850). Even in the imperfect form in which we have it the book is of great value from the references to ancient writers which it preserves. Hermolaus dedicates his epitome to Justinian; whether the first or second emperor of that name is meant is disputed, but it seems probable that Stephanus flourished in the earlier part of the 6th century.

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 22, p. 532
[111 words — estimated reading time: 1 minute]

Stephen Encyclopedia Britannica

STEPHEN, St, described in late MSS. of Acts xxii. 20 and in subsequent ecclesiastical tradition as πρωτόμαρτυς, was one of the first seven deacons who were chosen by the church in Jerusalem at the instance of the apostles. He is spoken of as “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit,” and, though his official function was rather the “serving of tables” than the ministry of the word, the narrative of the book of Acts shows him to have been principally and pre-eminently a preacher. After a brief period of popularity he was accused before the sanhedrin as a blasphemer, and, without being allowed to finish his speech in his own defence, he was hurried without the city walls and stoned to death (c. 37 a.d.). “Devout men”— an expression apparently used to denote the uncircumcised adherents of the synagogue (see Acts x. 2)—buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. His martyrdom is commemorated in the Latin Church on December 26 and in the Greek on December 27. Ecclesiastical tradition tells that in the year 415 his remains were discovered by Lucian, priest of Caphar-Gamala near Jerusalem; after being deposited for some time in Jerusalem, they were removed by the younger Theodosius to Constantinople, and thence by Pope Pelagius to Rome. Some relics of Stephen were also brought from Palestine to the West by Orosius. Their discovery is commemorated on August 3....

The ministry and martyrdom of Stephen marked a great crisis in the history of the relations of the Christian church to the Gentile world. At first, we are informed, the early disciples, numbering three thousand souls, “had favour with all the people” (Acts ii. 47), who protected them against the rulers, elders, and scribes; “for all men glorified God for that which was done” (Acts iv. 21), and the people “magnified” the apostles (v. 13). It was this great popularity of the disciples of Jesus in Jerusalem that led to the ordination of the deacons. Soon a great revulsion of feeling took place. Stephen, “full of grace and power,” had wrought “great wonders and signs among the people” (vi. 8); then suddenly arose “certain of the synagogue,” disputing with Stephen, and were “unable to withstand the wisdom and spirit by which he spoke.” What was the new and offensive element introduced by Stephen into the apostolic preaching? The accusations against him, and his speech in his own defence, alike show that he was the first to realize with any clearness the greatness of the Christian revolution,—the incompatibility of the Mosaic institutions with the spirituality and freeness of the gospel and with its destiny to become a message of salvation for the whole world. The entire drift of his speech is to show the progressive character of revelation, and to show that, as God had often manifested Himself apart from the forms of the law and the synagogue, these could not be held to be of the essence of religion. The seed of much that is most distinctive of the Pauline epistles was sown by the preaching of Stephen.

STEPHEN (1105-1154), king of England, the second son of Stephen, earl of Blois, and Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror, was born at Blois in 1105. He obtained the county of Mortain by the gift of his uncle Henry I. and that of Boulogne by marriage with Maud, daughter of Count Eustace. As one of the chief barons of Normandy he had sworn to aid in securing the succession to the crown of England for his cousin the empress Matilda and her infant son, afterwards Henry II. Nevertheless, on the death of Henry I. in 1135, Stephen at once crossed over to England, and was welcomed by the citizens of London as king. Aided by his brother Henry, bishop of Winchester, and the justiciar, Bishop Roger of Salisbury, he made himself master of the royal treasure, and was formally elected and crowned on St Stephen’s day, December 26, 1135. In a brief charter issued at the time of his coronation he promised to observe the laws and liberties of the land. A fuller charter, the second of our great charters of liberties, was issued early in 1136. In this document, which was based on that of Henry I., each of the three estates came in for its share of promises, but the leading position of the church and the importance of the aid which it gave the king are shown by the predominant attention paid to ecclesiastical privileges. So far all seemed going well, but the troubles of the reign soon began. A false report of Stephen’s death in the summer of 1136 caused revolts to break out in the east and west of England. Roger Bigot seized Norwich, and Baldwin of Redvers occupied Exeter. Stephen, who possessed considerable military skill, speedily put down these rebellions, but the outbreak showed the lightness of the feudal bond and the defectiveness of Stephen’s title. In 1137 he crossed over into Normandy to defend his dominions there from Geoffrey of Anjou, and was successful enough to make a satisfactory peace, but he returned to find England aflame. A mysterious conspiracy was hatched in the diocese of Ely, where the fenlands may have still concealed some remnants of the opposition to Stephen’s grandfather. David, king of Scotland, who had already taken up arms on behalf of his niece Matilda, but had been bought off by the surrender of Carlisle, marched an army into England and advanced as far as Yorkshire. Robert, earl of Gloucester, the strongest of the English nobles, raised the standard of rebellion at Bristol. Against these numerous enemies Stephen contrived at first to make head. The conspiracy at Ely was nipped in the bud; the Scotch invasion was checked in the battle of the Standard, near Northallerton, in 1138, and even against Robert of Gloucester Stephen won some success. But his own weakness and folly proved his ruin. In order to conciliate the barons who remained true to him, he allowed them to build castles, each of which became a centre of petty but intolerable tyranny. Instead of relying on the support of his English subjects, Stephen surrounded himself with a body of foreign mercenaries, who pillaged all alike. He granted earldoms at random, thereby splitting up the royal authority and diminishing the royal revenues. Lastly,—and this was the worst mistake of all,—he broke with the church, and especially with the great family of Bishop Roger, who had the administrative machinery in their hands. On the ground that they had no right to fortify their castles he arrested the bishops of Lincoln and Salisbury, together with Roger the chancellor, son of the latter. He thus enforced the surrender of the castles, but the church, with the new archbishop, Theobald, and Stephen’s brother, Henry of Winchester, now legate, at its head, declared against him. Henry called a council, laid formal charges against the king, and threatened to appeal to Rome. In the midst of this crisis Matilda and her half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, landed in the south of England, and a civil war began. From this time forward, for fourteen dismal years, the land knew no peace. It is needless to go into details. Neither party was strong enough to deal a final blow at the other. The nobility changed sides as they pleased, fighting generally for their own interests or for plunder; bands of freebooters wandered up and down the country; upwards of a thousand castles, each of which was a den of robbers, were erected; the church found threats and persuasion equally ineffective to restore peace and order. “Men said openly,” we are told by the chronicler, “that Christ and His saints slept.” At the battle of Lincoln in 1141 Stephen was taken prisoner. After this Matilda was elected queen, but she soon forfeited the allegiance of her supporters. The Londoners revolted, the empress fled to Oxford, and the earl of Gloucester was taken prisoner. He was exchanged for Stephen, and matters went on as before. About 1147 there came a change. Matilda left the country, and her son Henry took the lead. His predominance was further secured by the death of Robert of Gloucester in 1148. Three years later Henry became count of Anjou on the death of his father, while his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine made him one of the most powerful princes in Europe. This great accession of strength enabled him to meet Stephen on more than equal terms, and Stephen on the death of his son Eustace was more inclined to peace. In November 1153 the treaty of Wallingford brought the long struggle to an end. It was agreed that Stephen should reign till his death, and that Henry should succeed him. A scheme of reform was drawn up, which Stephen endeavoured, during the short remainder of his reign, to carry out. He died on October 25, 1154. A brave man, a good soldier, merciful and generous, but devoid of moral strength and political insight, he was utterly incapable to discharge a task which demanded all the skill and energy of his great successor. His nominal reign was a period of anarchy in English history, important only as a full justification for the tyrannies of Henry I. and Henry II.

Authorities.— Ordericus Vitalis, ed. Le Prévost; William of Malmesbury, ed. Hamilton (Rolls Series); Gesta Stephani, ed. Sewell (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Gervase of Canterbury, ed. Stubbs (Rolls Series); Henry of Huntingdon, ed. Arnold (Rolls Series); English Chronicle, ed. Thorpe (Rolls Series); Freeman, Norman Conquest, vol. v.; Lappenberg, Gesch. Englands, vol. iii. (G. W. P. )

STEPHEN, Sir James (1789-1859), historian, was the son of James Stephen, master in chancery, author of The Slavery of the West India Colonies and other works, and was born in London 3d January 1789. He was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1812, after which he studied for the bar and was called at Lincoln’s Inn. He obtained an extensive practice as a chancery barrister, being ultimately counsel to the colonial department and counsel to the Board of Trade. In 1834 he became assistant under-secretary for the colonies, and shortly afterwards permanent under-secretary. On his retirement in 1847 he was made a knight commander of the Bath. In 1849 he was appointed regius professor of modern history in the university of Cambridge, having already distinguished himself by his brilliant studies in ecclesiastical biography contributed to the Edinburgh Review, which were published that year under the title Essays in Ecclesiastical Biography and Other Subjects ; a 4th edition, with a short memoir, appeared in 1860. He was also the author of Lectures on the History of France, 2 vols., 1851, 3d ed. 1857, and Desultory and Systematic Reading, a lecture, 1853. He died at Coblentz on the 15th of September 1859.

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 22, p. 532
[516 words — estimated reading time: 3 minutes]

Stephen Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

the first martyr. He is always put at the head of the seven deacons; and it is believed he had studied at the feet of Gamaliel. As he was full of the Holy Ghost, and of zeal, Acts vi, 5, 6, &c, he performed many wonderful miracles: and those of the synagogue of the Libertines, of the Cyrenians, of the Alexandrians, and others, disputing with him, could not withstand the wisdom and the power with which he spoke. Then having suborned false witnesses, to testify that they had heard him blaspheme against Moses, and against God, they drew him before the sanhedrim. Stephen appeared in the midst of this assembly, with a countenance like that of an angel; and the high priest asking him what he had to answer, in his defence he rapidly traced the history of the Jews, showing that they had always opposed themselves to God and his prophets; faithfully upbraided them with the hardness of their hearts, with their putting the prophets to death, and, lastly, with slaying Christ himself. At these words they were filled with rage, and gnashed their teeth against him. But Stephen, lifting up his eyes to heaven, calmly exclaimed, “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.” Then the Jews cried out, and stopped their ears as though they had heard blasphemy, and falling on him, they drew him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul, afterward St. Paul, who then appears to have commenced his career of persecution. “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit; and he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep,” an example of the majesty and meekness of true ...

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
[363 words — estimated reading time: 3 minutes]

King James Bible KJV Bible

Berean Standard Bible BSB Bible

55 KJV and 86 BSB verses contain “step” — showing the first 20. Show all 101 verses (searchable)

Genesis 18:23

And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

Exodus 20:26

Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.

And you must not go up to My altar on steps, lest your nakedness be exposed on it.’

Leviticus 9:22

And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings.

Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them. And having made the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offering, he stepped down.

Numbers 12:5

And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.

and the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance to the Tent, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them had stepped forward,

Deuteronomy 25:11

When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets:

If two men are fighting, and the wife of one steps in to rescue her husband from the one striking him, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his genitals,

1 Samuel 2:9

He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.

He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

1 Samuel 5:5

Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.

That is why, to this day, the priests of Dagon and all who enter the temple of Dagon in Ashdod do not step on the threshold.

1 Samuel 20:3

And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.

But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”

2 Samuel 18:30

And the king said unto him, Turn aside, and stand here. And he turned aside, and stood still.

“Move aside,” said the king, “and stand here.” So he stepped aside.

2 Samuel 20:8

When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab’s garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out.

And while they were at the great stone in Gibeon, Amasa joined them. Now Joab was dressed in military attire, with a dagger strapped to his belt. And as he stepped forward, he slipped the dagger from its sheath.

2 Samuel 22:37

Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip.

You broaden the path beneath me so that my ankles do not give way.

1 Kings 10:12

And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of the LORD, and for the king’s house, harps also and psalteries for singers: there came no such almug trees, nor were seen unto this day.

The king made the almug wood into steps for the house of the LORD and for the king’s palace, and into lyres and harps for the singers. Never before had such almug wood been brought in, nor has such been seen to this day.)

1 Kings 10:19

The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind: and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays.

The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, with a lion standing beside each armrest.

1 Kings 10:20

And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.

Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like this had ever been made for any kingdom.

1 Kings 14:17

And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died;

Then Jeroboam’s wife got up and departed for Tirzah, and as soon as she stepped over the threshold of the house, the boy died.

2 Kings 9:13

Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.

Quickly, each man took his garment and put it under Jehu on the bare steps. Then they blew the ram’s horn and proclaimed, “Jehu is king!”

2 Kings 20:9

And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?

And Isaiah had replied, “This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: Would you like the shadow to go forward ten steps, or back ten steps?”

2 Kings 20:10

And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.

“It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps,” answered Hezekiah, “but not for it to go back ten steps.”

2 Kings 20:11

And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

So Isaiah the prophet called out to the LORD, and He brought the shadow back the ten steps it had descended on the stairway of Ahaz.

2 Chronicles 9:11

And the king made of the algum trees terraces to the house of the LORD, and to the king’s palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were none such seen before in the land of Judah.

The king made the algum wood into steps for the house of the LORD and for the king’s palace, and into lyres and harps for the singers. Never before had anything like them been seen in the land of Judah.)