step

An advance or movement made from one foot to the other; a pace.

• Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motio

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.
• Through the open front door ran Jessamy, down the steps to where Kitto was sitting at the bottom with the pram beside him.

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.

The button joining a glass's stem to its foot.

A distinct part of a process; stage; phase.

• He improved step by step, or by steps.
• The first step is to find a job.

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.

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.

A small space or distance.

• It is but a step.

A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track.

A gait; manner of walking.

• The approach of a man is often known by his step.

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.intransitive

• 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 train

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.; To don with a stepping action.intransitive

• He stepped into his pants.

To walk; to go (on foot, especially) a little distance.intransitive

• Come one, come all. Step right up!
• The convention roared as the president stepped to the podium.

To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely.intransitive

• Home from his Morning-Task , the Swain retreats, His flock before him stepping to the fold.

To dance.

• At arms length with left hands clasped they moved back where facing each other they stepped in time to their dance embrace.
• 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.

To move mentally; to go in imagination.figurativelyintransitive

• They are stepping almost three thousand years back into the remotest antiquity.

To set, as the foot.transitive

• One of the women, Elsie, stepped her foot inside to help the woman.

To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect.transitive

• 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.

To advance a process gradually, one step at a time.transitive

To depart.intransitiveslang

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

A stepchild.colloquial

• [Krazy Kat, after complimenting a woman on her nice polite little child:] Boy or girl? [Woman:] Step – but well brung up.

A stepsibling.colloquial

• So for Richard and Barbara, Jeff and Kari, the impossibly varied collection of steps and halves that is another legacy of my father.