step

Etymology 1

From Middle English steppen, from Old English steppan (“to step, go, proceed, advance”), stepe (“step”), from Proto-West Germanic *stappjan, from Proto-Germanic *stapjaną (“to step”), *stapiz (“step”), from Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ- (“to support, stomp, curse, be amazed”). Cognate with West Frisian stappe (“to step”), North Frisian stape (“to walk, trudge”), Dutch stappen (“to step, walk”), Walloon steper (“to walk away, leave”), German stapfen (“to trudge, stomp, plod”) and further to Slavic Polish stąpać (“to stomp, stamp, step, tread”), Russian ступать (stupatʹ) and Polish stopień (“step, stair, rung, degree”), Russian степень (stepenʹ). Related to stamp, stomp.

noun

1. An advance or movement made from one foot to the other; a pace.
2. A rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a rung of a ladder.
   The breadth of every single step or stair should be never less than one foot. 1624, Sir Henry Wotton, The Elements Of Architecture
   Through the open front door ran Jessamy, down the steps to where Kitto was sitting at the bottom with the pram beside him. 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, page 122
3. The part of a spade, digging stick or similar tool that a digger's foot rests against and presses on when digging; an ear, a foot-rest.
4. A distinct part of a process; stage; phase.
   He improved step by step, or by steps.
   The first step is to find a job.
5. A running board where passengers step to get on and off the bus.
   The driver must have a clear view of the step in order to prevent accidents.
6. The space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running.
   One step is generally about three feet, but may be more or less.
7. A small space or distance.
   It is but a step.
8. A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track.
9. A gait; manner of walking.
   The approach of a man is often known by his step.
10. Proceeding; measure; action; act.
    The reputation of a man depends on the first steps he makes in the world. 1717, Alexander Pope, Preface to his collection of poems
    Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day, Live till to-morrow, will have passed away. c. 1792, William Cowper, The Needless Alarm
    I have lately taken steps[…]to relieve the old gentleman's distresses. 1879, George Washington Cable, Old Creole Days
    Moon has also requested that government officials take additional steps to help fight pollution, his spokesman said. Audio (US) (file) 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)
11. (in the plural) A walk; passage.
12. (in the plural) A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position.
13. (nautical) A framing in wood or iron which is intended to receive an upright shaft; specifically, a block of wood, or a solid platform upon the keelson, supporting the heel of the mast.
14. (machines) 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.
15. (machines) A bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves.
16. (music) The interval between two contiguous degrees of the scale.
    Usage note: 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.
17. (kinematics) A change of position effected by a motion of translation.
    A change of position effected by a motion of translation will be called a step. 1878, William Kingdon Clifford, Elements of Dynamic: An Introduction to the Study of Motion
18. (programming) A constant difference between consecutive values in a series.
    Printing from 0 to 9 with a step of 3 will display 0, 3, 6 and 9.

verb

1. (intransitive) 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.
   A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays. 2013-06-01, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly)
2. (intransitive) To walk; to go on foot; especially, to walk a little distance.
   Some days later it happened that young Heriotside was stepping home over the Lang Muir about ten at night, it being his first jaunt from home since his arm had mended. 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
   to step to one of the neighbors
3. (intransitive) To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely.
   Home from his Morning-Task , the Swain retreats, His flock before him stepping to the fold.
4. To dance.
   At arms length with left hands clasped they moved back where facing each other they stepped in time to their dance embrace. 2013, Calvin Vraa, The Last Pathway Home, page 179
   She clapped, but instead of walking her back to the table, Alex took her hand and pulled her gently towards him, slipping his arm around her waist again and stepping her off on the first beat of the next dance. 2013, Jean Fullerton, Call Nurse Millie
   He stepped to the beat of one of their favorite songs. 2017, Christine Schimpf, A Christmas Kind of Perfect
   He put on a tame version of the 1960s song “The Letter,” wrapped his right arm around my waist, raised my right hand, draped it over his left, and we stepped, stepped, and back stepped to the beat. 2018, Paula Poundstone, The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness, page 180
5. (intransitive, figurative) To move mentally; to go in imagination.
6. (transitive) To set, as the foot.
   One of the women, Elsie, stepped her foot inside to help the woman. 2010, Charles E. Miller, Winds of Mercy: 40 Short Stories, page 219
7. (transitive, nautical) To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect.
   We put everything straight, stepped the long-boat's mast for our skipper, who was in charge of her, and I was not sorry to sit down for a moment. 1898, Joseph Conrad, Youth
8. (transitive) To advance a process gradually, one step at a time.

Etymology 2

Clipping of stepchild.. Clipping of stepsibling.

noun

1. (colloquial) A stepchild.
   [Krazy Kat, after complimenting a woman on her nice polite little child:] Boy or girl? [Woman:] Step – but well brung up. September 6 1934, George Herriman, Krazy Kat, comic strip, page 234
2. (slang) A stepsibling.
   So for Richard and Barbara, Jeff and Kari, the impossibly varied collection of steps and halves that is another legacy of my father. 2016, Robert M. Herzog, A World Between