steels

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of steel.

   Modern toolmakers choose between dozens of steels depending on hardness and cost.

   High-carbon steels hold a sharp edge longer than softer grades.

   Note

   Two kinds of plural share one spelling. For the metal, the plural counts grades or alloys, as in high-carbon steels, while the base noun stays uncountable for the substance itself. For the objects, it simply counts things: honing steels beside a knife block, the steels that stiffen a garment, the pieces once struck against flint for sparks. Context, not form, tells the two apart.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of steel.

   A good leader steels her team against the worst possible news.

   The captain steels himself for the long voyage ahead.

   Note

   A regular -s present spelled exactly like the plural noun, so only the sentence shows which is meant: the chef steels the knife, but a drawer of steels. Behind it stand workshop verbs: edging a tool with steel, honing a blade, turning iron into steel, plating an engraving. The figurative reflexive, as in steels himself, applies that hardening to a person instead of a blade.

3. 3
   noun

   Shares in steel-manufacturing companies, or the quoted prices of those shares.

   Traders piled into steels as construction demand surged across Asia.

   The fund manager trimmed her holdings in steels before the downturn.

   Note

   Market shorthand that names a sector by what its companies make. Traders and fund managers treat steels as a block: they buy into steels and hold positions in steels, usually with no article. The plural matters because the word stands for a basket of shares rather than one company. In the singular, the word goes back to meaning the metal.

4. 4
   nouncountablewith the

   Ice skates, or the steel blades fitted to them.

   The boys strapped on their steels and raced along the frozen canal.

   She sharpened her steels before the morning practice session.

   Similarskates, blades

   Note

   A skater's metonym: the blade stands for the whole skate. The word usually takes the definite article, as in back on the steels or out on the steels. That article does real work. It marks the skates as the familiar gear of the sport rather than one particular pair, much as people speak of the ice rather than a specific rink.

   After a summer away from the rink, she was eager to get back on the steels.

   The whole team was out on the steels before dawn.

Showing meanings only. Show all 4