steers

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of steer.

   The captain steers the ferry toward the dock as passengers gather their bags.

   A good teacher steers the conversation back on track without scolding anyone.

   Note

   Here the verb takes he, she or it as its subject, and it works with or without an object. A captain steers a ferry, but a vessel can also steer on its own, in the sense of answering the helm. The same form covers a herder who steers cattle, a manager who steers a team toward a decision, and someone who steers clear of trouble.

   The old sloop steers easily, even in a crosswind.

   She steers the herd through the gate before dusk.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of steer.

   Feedlots fatten thousands of steers before sending them to market.

   The auctioneer sold the steers in lots of twenty.

   Note

   One spelling serves several different nouns, and context decides which steer is meant. Usually it is cattle, as at an auction or a feedlot. The informal noun for a suggestion takes the same plural (thanks for the steers), and so did the obsolete word for a helmsman. The spelling is also the verb's present-tense form, so the farmer steers and the farmer's steers differ only in grammar.

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