Steatopyga
(||Ste`a*top"y*ga) n. [NL., fr. Gr. fat + the buttocks.] A remarkable accretion of fat upon
the buttocks of Africans of certain tribes, especially of Hottentot women.
Steatopygous
(Ste`a*top"y*gous) a. Having fat buttocks.
Specimens of the steatopygous Abyssinian breed.
Burton. Sted
(Sted n., Sted"fast) a., Stedfastly
(Sted"fast*ly), adv., etc. See Stead, Steadfast, etc.
Stee
(Stee) n. [Cf. G. stiege. &radic164. See Stair.] A ladder. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] [Written also
stey.]
Steed
(Steed) n. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin
to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. &radic163. See Stud of horses.] A horse, especially
a spirited horse for state of war; — used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. "A knight upon a steed."
Chaucer.
Mounted upon a hot and fiery steed.
Shak. Steedless
(Steed"less), a. Having no steed; without a horse.
Steek
(Steek, Steik) v. t. [Cf. Stick, v. t.] To pierce with a sharp instrument; hence, to stitch; to sew; also,
to fix; to fasten. [Scot.]
Steel
(Steel) n. [AS. stel, styl, style; akin to D. staal, G. stahl, OHG. stahal, Icel. stal, Dan. staal,
Sw. stål, Old Prussian stakla.]
1. (Metal) A variety of iron intermediate in composition and properties between wrought iron and cast
iron (containing between one half of one per cent and one and a half per cent of carbon), and consisting
of an alloy of iron with an iron carbide. Steel, unlike wrought iron, can be tempered, and retains magnetism.
Its malleability decreases, and fusibility increases, with an increase in carbon.
2. An instrument or implement made of steel; as: —
(a) A weapon, as a sword, dagger, etc. "Brave Macbeth . . . with his brandished steel." Shak.
While doubting thus he stood,
Received the steel bathed in his brother's blood.
Dryden. (b) An instrument of steel (usually a round rod) for sharpening knives.
(c) A piece of steel for striking sparks from flint.
3. Fig.: Anything of extreme hardness; that which is characterized by sternness or rigor. "Heads of steel."
Johnson. "Manhood's heart of steel." Byron.
4. (Med.) A chalybeate medicine. Dunglison.
Steel is often used in the formation of compounds, generally of obvious meaning; as, steel-clad, steel-
girt, steel-hearted, steel-plated, steel-pointed, etc.
Bessemer steel (Metal.) See in the Vocabulary. — Blister steel. (Metal.) See under Blister. —
Cast steel (Metal.), a fine variety of steel, originally made by smelting blister or cementation steel; hence,
ordinarily, steel of any process of production when remelted and cast. — Cromium steel (Metal.), a
hard, tenacious variety containing a little cromium, and somewhat resembling tungsten steel. — Mild
steel (Metal.), a kind of steel having a lower proportion of carbon than ordinary steel, rendering it softer
and more malleable. — Puddled steel (Metal.), a variety of steel produced from cast iron by the puddling
