steel

Less common meanings

5. 5
   inner strengthnounfigurativelycountable or uncountable

   Extreme hardness or toughness, especially of character; unyielding resilience.

   There was steel in her voice when she refused to back down.

   Surviving those years took a quiet steel few people noticed.

   UsageOften steel in someone's voice or eyes; also the set phrase nerves of steel.

   Similargrit, toughness, resolve, iron, backbone

   Oppositeweakness, softness

6. 6
   brace yourselfverbfigurativelytransitive

   To harden or strengthen, especially to give a person nerve, to make the heart unyielding, or to brace someone against something.

   Soldiers steel themselves for the coming battle.

   She steeled her heart against his pleas.

   UsageUsually steel yourself for something, against something, or to do something.

   Similarbrace, harden, fortify, prepare

   Oppositesoften, weaken

   Note

   F. Burney's Camilla (1796) already urges 'Steel yourself, then, firmly to withstand attacks', and the verb still takes for, against, or to plus another verb. Shakespeare used it more freely: a hard heart steels another, and Richard III wants 'lies well steeld with weighty arguments'. The firmness comes straight from the metal and its root. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • Frances Burney wrote Camilla, first published in 1796. library.some.ox.ac.uk
   • Camilla contains the exact quoted words, spoken by Mr. Tyrold to Eugenia. gutenberg.org
   • Shakespeare depicts one hard heart steeling another in Venus and Adonis; Venus speaks the words. folger.edu
   • Richard speaks the quoted words in Shakespeare's Richard III, Act I, scene i. folger.edu
   • The spelling 'steeld' is attested in the quotation. en.wiktionary.org
   • The figurative firmness derives from steel, whose reconstructed root denotes firmness. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   the color itselfnoununcountable

   A gray hue resembling the color of the metal; steel-gray or steel-blue.

   She chose a cool steel for the kitchen cabinets.

   Under the cloudy sky the river turned a dull steel.

   Note

   Effie Ruskin in 1851 describes 'a steel glacé silk dress'. It also forms compounds, as in Melville's 'clear steel-blue day' in Moby-Dick, and these are hyphenated before a noun. Used alone, steel leans toward cool gray; steel-blue tilts the same shade toward azure. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Effie Ruskin described 'a steel glacé silk dress' in 1851. en.wiktionary.org
   • Herman Melville's Moby-Dick contains the phrase 'clear steel-blue day'. gutenberg.org
8. 8
   blade weaponsnouncountable or uncountable

   Bladed or pointed weapons such as swords, javelins, and daggers, considered collectively.

   The enemy charged, and cold steel flashed in the moonlight.

   He chose to answer the insult with steel rather than words.

   UsageOften in cold steel.

   Note

   Kipling's 'They have asked for the steel' in Barrack-room Ballads (1892) means hand-to-hand fighting. Shakespeare's Macbeth carves his passage 'with his brandisht Steele', a single sword, so a lone weapon can be meant too. A list in Lord Shaftesbury's Characteristicks (1711), 'Steel, Fire, Gibbets, Rods', lets it stand for violence itself. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Kipling wrote the quoted words; the captain speaks them in a passage describing boarding and fighting with cutlasses. en.wikisource.org
   • The collection was first published in 1892. en.wikisource.org
   • Lord Shaftesbury's Characteristicks was first published in 1711. angam.phil.fau.de
   • Characteristicks contains the quoted list, in a context of religious violence and coercion. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   sharpening rodnouncountable or uncountable

   A rod-shaped tool used to sharpen or hone the edges of metal blades.

   The chef ran the blade along a steel before carving the roast.

   Grandpa kept a worn steel hanging beside the cutting board.

   Similarsharpener

   Note

   Butchers and cooks keep it beside the knife. Howard Pyle's Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (1883) has Robin Hood, posing as a butcher, take up 'his cleaver and steel', and Aberdeen's council register of 1541 already names a steill for sharpening a shaving iron. The tool hones rather than grinds: drawn along an edge, it realigns and smooths it while removing little or no metal. The matching verb names the action. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • Howard Pyle wrote The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, first published in 1883. en.wikipedia.org
   • The character is Robin Hood, posing as a butcher after buying the butcher's stock and equipment. gutenberg.org
   • The novel contains the words 'his cleaver and steel'. gutenberg.org
   • An Aberdeen council register entry dated 1541 mentions a steill for sharpening a shaving iron. en.wiktionary.org
   • A traditional honing steel restores the edge by realigning it, with little or no metal removal. zwilling.com
   • The verb steel names sharpening with a honing steel. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    sharpen knifeverbtransitive

    To sharpen a blade by drawing it along a honing steel.

    She steeled the dull cleaver before the dinner rush.

    Good cooks steel their knives several times a day.

    Similarsharpen, hone

    Oppositeblunt, dull

11. 11
    armornouncountable or uncountable

    Protective armor made of metal, worn in combat.

    Clad in steel from head to toe, the knight rode onto the field.

    No arrow could pierce the rider's steel.

    Similararmor

    Note

    Armor called by its metal, most memorably in the phrase complete steel. In Hamlet the ghost appears 'in compleate steele', and Milton's 1634 masque uses the same phrase for chastity, which clothes its owner 'in compleat steel'. Complete here means 'full, head to foot', so the phrase describes a fully armored figure. Sir Tristrem pairs the metal with iron, 'in iren and stiel', as the stuff of war gear. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • Hamlet describes the ghost as appearing 'in compleate steele'. en.wikisource.org
    • Comus was first published in 1637. The year 1634 identifies its original performance. gutenberg.org
    • Milton's masque presents chastity as clothing its possessor 'in compleat steel'. darkwing.uoregon.edu
    • Complete steel means full armor covering the figure from head to foot. gutenberg.org
    • Sir Tristrem pairs iron and steel when describing the characters arming themselves. auchinleck.nls.uk
12. 12
    verbtransitive

    To fit, cover, edge, tip, or back an object with steel, especially to harden or reinforce it.

    Smiths would steel the cutting edge of each tool before tempering it.

    The workshop steeled the chisel points so they held an edge longer.

    Note

    A smith's verb as old as Middle English. Sawles Warde (about 1240) arms its tormentors with mallets 'istelet', tipped with steel. John Holland in 1831 reports the common notion that steeling tools to perfection was an art the moderns had lost. Jeremy Taylor's 'arrows steeled with wrath' (1651) already leans toward the verb of hardening resolve. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • The literal verb is attested in Middle English, with Sawles Warde conventionally dated about 1240. en.wiktionary.org
    • Sawles Warde describes tormentors using steel-tipped mallets, with the participle istelet. gutenberg.org
    • John Holland's relevant volume was published in 1831. cir.nii.ac.jp
    • Holland reports a common belief that perfect steeling of tools was an art lost to modern people. en.wiktionary.org
    • Jeremy Taylor wrote the quoted phrase. en.wiktionary.org
    • Taylor's relevant collection, XXVIII Sermons Preached at Golden Grove, was published in 1651. huntington.org
13. 13
    convert ironverbtransitive

    To convert iron into steel, typically by adjusting its carbon content and heat-treating it.

    Few early forges could steel iron with any consistency.

    The cementation process steeled the bars over several days.

    Note

    The metallurgist's verb, closest to the making of the metal. Writing in Scientific American in 1977, one account holds that blacksmiths were 'intentionally steeling iron' by the 10th century BC. The verb takes iron as its object, and its gerund names the process: a nineteenth-century engineering journal reports that an electric current much hastens 'the operation of steeling'.

14. 14
    clothing supportnouncountable or uncountable

    Strips or pieces of metal used to stiffen, support, or shape a garment.

    The corset's steel kept her posture rigid all evening.

    The dressmaker slid lengths of steel into the bodice seams.

    Similarboning

    Note

    Dressmaking's word for the stiffening strips in bodices and corsets, usually in the plural. In the Daily Chronicle of 1904, a woman supposes a bullet 'must have struck the steels in my corsets', which shows how rigid these supports could be. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • Steels are pieces used to stiffen or support clothing. en.wiktionary.org
    • The cited ruff passage concerns a setting steel, a tool used to shape ruffs, rather than a stiffening strip worn inside one. extra.shu.ac.uk
    • The Dumbe Knight was first published in 1608 and was written by Gervase Markham. shakespearedocumented.folger.edu
    • A character asks the quoted question during a discussion of deep ruffs. extra.shu.ac.uk
    • The Daily Chronicle printed the corset quotation in 1904. en.wiktionary.org
15. 15
    engraved plateadjective

    Engraved on a steel plate, as a printed illustration or image.

    The volume was illustrated with delicate steel engravings throughout.

    Print collectors still seek the steel portraits of Victorian authors.

    Note

    A book-trade adjective that names the printing method, not what the object is made of. The 'steel frontis-piece' Mark Twain admired in an 1880 letter was paper, printed from an engraved plate. The word works as shorthand for steel-engraved and pairs with words for illustrations, such as frontispiece, portrait and plate. For the plate itself, see the engraving-plate noun. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • In this printing sense, steel describes the engraving method rather than the illustration's material. en.wiktionary.org
    • Mark Twain praised a 'steel frontis-piece' in an 1880 letter. en.wiktionary.org
    • A steel-engraved book illustration is printed on paper from a metal plate. en.wikipedia.org
16. 16
    bulletsnouncountable or uncountable

    Projectiles made of metal, such as bullets or shot.

    The cannon poured steel onto the advancing line.

    They rained steel down on the fortress walls.

    Similarshot

    Note

    A gunners' mass noun for fire in quantity. The Westminster Gazette of 1898 has crews at the port batteries 'pumping steel at the enemy'. It goes naturally with verbs of volume and flow, such as pump, pour and rain, because what matters is the weight of fire, not the single shot. The bladed-weapons sense, by contrast, belongs to close fighting. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The Westminster Gazette printed the quotation about crews at port batteries in 1898. en.wiktionary.org
17. 17
    fire starternouncountable or uncountable

    A shaped piece of hardened metal struck against flint to produce sparks for kindling a fire.

    A traveler could raise a flame in seconds with flint and steel.

    He drew the steel sharply down the flint and blew the spark into the dry moss.

    Note

    The tinderbox partner of flint appears early: the Bestiary of about 1220 strikes stone 'mid stel' to set tinder burning. By Robert Boyle's experiments of 1660, the word also names the plate that a gunlock's cock falls upon 'with its wonted violence'. The same word therefore served both the fire-lighter and the firearm, since both worked by striking sparks. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • The Bestiary quotation is conventionally dated approximately 1220. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Bestiary describes making a fire with stone, steel and tinder, using the words 'mid stel'. bestiary.ca
    • Robert Boyle's New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall was first published in 1660. echo-old.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
    • Boyle calls the gunlock's striking surface 'Steel' and describes the cock falling upon it 'with its wonted violence'. archive.org
    • The firearm's steel produced sparks, supporting the comparison with the fire-lighting steel. archive.org
18. 18
    give metal lookverbliteraryfigurativelytransitive

    To lend something the hard, gray, gleaming look of steel.

    On winter afternoons the low light can steel the surface of the quiet lake.

    Dusk steeled the river until it lay like a band of gray metal.

    Note

    In a Wordsworth sonnet published in 1819, waters 'steeled / By breezeless air to smoothest polish' mirror the stars. It suits still water, ice and dusk skies, where hardness and sheen meet. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Wordsworth's sonnet contains the quoted wording and describes the waters reflecting stars. gutenberg.org
19. 19
    nounobsoleteuncountable

    The taking of iron as a remedy, especially iron-rich mineral water or iron-treated drink swallowed to treat illness.

    I...am really only kept alive by steel.

    1866, Princess Alice, Mem.

    Steel is not so good as Iron for Medicinal Operation.

    1704, J. Harris, Lexicon Technicum

    Note

    Obsolete medicine, and the home of the phrase a course of steel. Jonathan Swift's doctor orders him into one in 1712, 'tho I have not the Spleen', while H. Hammond in 1649 makes it a metaphor for a nation's harsh cure. The name outlived any real steel in the remedy: J. Harris's Lexicon Technicum (1704) already prefers iron, yet Princess Alice in 1866 is 'only kept alive by steel'. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts

    • Swift reported in 1712 that his doctor prescribed a course of steel, despite his not having the spleen. gutenberg.org
    • Henry Hammond used a course of steel metaphorically for a kingdom’s harsh treatment. en.wiktionary.org
    • Hammond’s cited work was first published in 1649. en.wikisource.org
    • Medicinal steel eventually included iron preparations rather than necessarily actual steel. en.wiktionary.org
    • John Harris compiled Lexicon Technicum, whose first volume appeared in 1704. en.wikipedia.org
    • Harris states that iron is preferable to steel for medicinal purposes. en.wiktionary.org
    • Princess Alice wrote in 1866 that she was only kept alive by steel. gutenberg.org
20. 20
    adjectiveobsolete

    Of a tonic or mineral water, containing dissolved iron or steel as its active ingredient.

    I...take some nasty steel drops, & may head has been bettr.

    1713, Journal to Stella, Jonathan Swift

    To mix some Sugar of steel, or steel wine with the first glass.

    1652, J. French, York-shire Spaw

    Note

    The adjective of the old iron cure survives in apothecaries' names. J. French's York-shire Spaw (1652) mentions steel wine and sugar of steel; G. Harvey (1675) praises steel drops, and Swift in 1713 takes 'some nasty steel drops'. In such texts the word means a remedy with iron in it, not anything forged from the metal. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • John French wrote York-shire Spaw, published in 1652. wellcomecollection.org
    • French's book mentions steel wine and sugar of steel. en.wiktionary.org
    • Gideon Harvey praises steel drops in his 1675 work The Disease of London. en.wiktionary.org
    • Jonathan Swift reports taking 'some nasty steel drops' in 1713. gutenberg.org
    • The medicinal sense of steel refers to iron preparations. en.wiktionary.org
21. 21
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To treat a liquid with iron or steel to give it medicinal properties.

    She drunk her drink steeled, with which she was cured.

    1657, J. Hall, Cures

    Note

    The verb behind the old iron cure. J. Hall's Cures (1657), translated by J. Cooke, tells of a patient who 'drunk her drink steeled, with which she was cured'. Note the past participle placed after the noun: her drink steeled. It describes the prepared liquid the way a cook might say a dish is salted. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • John Hall's work, abbreviated here as Cures, was first published in 1657. readingearlymedicine.org
    • James Cooke translated Hall's Latin case notes into English. shakespeare.org.uk
    • The work contains the quoted account of a patient drinking a steeled drink; steeled follows the noun drink. en.wiktionary.org
    • Steeled describes a liquid prepared with steel for medicinal use. dhjhkxawhe8q4.cloudfront.net
22. 22
    noun

    A handheld bar used as a slide to stop the strings while playing the steel guitar.
23. 23
    noun

    A hardened metal plate engraved with a design and used to print many impressions of an image.
24. 24
    verb

    To electroplate an object, especially a copper engraving plate, with a thin protective layer of iron.
25. 25
    noun

    Beads or ornamental trim of polished steel, used to decorate garments and accessories.
26. 26
    noundialectal

    A needle for sewing or knitting, or a sharp metal stylus.

    The threaded steel...Flies swiftly.

    1785, William Cowper, Task
27. 27
    noundialectal

    A flatiron; a heavy metal implement heated and used to press wrinkles from cloth.

    One of them having occasion to use a Steele, smoothing Iron, or some such kinde of Laundry Instrument.

    1638, J. Taylor, Bull
28. 28
    verbdialectal

    To press cloth with a flatiron in order to smooth out creases.

    Tha hasn't tha Sense to stile thy own Dressing.

    1746, Exmoor Scolding, 3rd edition