step

noun23

1. •
   a single movement of a foot to a new place, as when walking or running
2. •
   A distinct part of a process; stage; phase.

   • He improved step by step, or by steps.
   • The first step is to find a job.
3. •
   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
4. •
   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.
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. •
   Proceeding; measure; action; act.

   • The reputation of a man depends on the first steps he makes in the world. — 1717
7. •
   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.
8. •
   A small space or distance.

   • It is but a step.
9. •
   A gait; manner of walking.

   • The approach of a man is often known by his step.
10. •
    (informal) A stepchild.

    • [Krazy Kat, after complimenting a woman on her nice polite little child:] Boy or girl? [Woman:] Step – but well brung up. — 1934
11. •
    (informal) 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
12. •
    [in the plural] A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position.
13. •
    A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track.
14. •
    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.
15. •
    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.
16. •
    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.
17. •
    Stepping (style of dance)
18. •
    [in the plural] A walk; passage.

    • Conduct my steps to find the fatal tree. — 1697
19. •
    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.
20. •
    A bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves.
21. •
    The button joining a glass's stem to its foot.
22. •
    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
23. •
    (slang) Kick scooter.

verb11

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 don with a stepping action.

   • He stepped into his pants.
3. •
   To set, as the foot.

   • One of the women, Elsie, stepped her foot inside to help the woman. — 2010
4. •
   To walk; to go (on foot, especially) a little distance.

   • Come one, come all. Step right up!
   • The convention roared as the president stepped to the podium.
5. •
   To advance a process gradually, one step at a time.
6. •
   (figurative) To move mentally; to go in imagination.

   • They are stepping almost three thousand years back into the remotest antiquity. — 1715
7. •
   To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely.

   • Home from his Morning-Task , the Swain retreats, His flock before him stepping to the fold. — 1749
8. •
   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
9. •
   (slang) To be confrontational.

   • You tryna be steppin right now? You better bring it if so.
10. •
    (slang) To depart.

    • You best step, cuz things are about to jump off.
11. •
    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

noun2

1. •
   Acronym of striatal-enriched protein tyrosine phosphatase.
2. •
   Acronym of serial transverse enteroplasty.