Chapter Stem-clasping to Stercobilin of S by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

2. Fig.: A means of progress or advancement.

These obstacles his genius had turned into stepping- stones.

Macaulay.

That men may rise on stepping-stones
Of their dead selves to higher things.

Tennyson.

Stepsister
(Step"sis`ter) n. A daughter of one's stepfather or stepmother by a former marriage.

Stepson
(Step"son`) n. [AS. steópsunu.] A son of one's husband or wife by a former marriage.

Stepstone
(Step"stone`) n. A stone laid before a door as a stair to rise on in entering the house.

- ster
(-ster) [OE. & AS. -estre, -istre.] A suffix denoting the agent especially a person who does something with skill or as an occupation; as in spinster songster, baxter youngster.

Brewing, baking, and weaving were formerly feminine labors, and consequently brewster, baxter, and webster meant, originally, the woman (not the man) who brews, bakes, or weaves. When men began to perform these duties the feminine appellations were retained.

Stercobilin
(Ster`co*bi"lin) n. [L. stercus dung + E. bilin.] (Physiol. Chem.) A coloring matter found in the fæces, a product of the alteration of the bile pigments in the intestinal canal, — identical with hydrobilirubin.