STEP

Definitions

1. 1. 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.
2. 2. To walk; to go on foot; esp., to walk a little distance; as, to step to one of the neighbors.
3. 3. To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely. Home the swain retreats, His flock before him stepping to the fold. Thomson.
4. 4. Fig.: To move mentally; to go in imagination. They are stepping almost three thousand years back into the remotest antiquity. Pope. To step aside, to walk a little distance from the rest; to retire from company. -- To step forth, to move or come forth. -- To step in or into. (a) To walk or advance into a place or state, or to advance suddenly in. Whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. John v. 4.
5. 5. To enter for a short time; as, I just stepped into the house. (c) To obtain possession without trouble; to enter upon easily or suddenly; as, to step into an estate. -- To step out. (a) (Mil.) To increase the length, but not the rapidity, of the step, extending it to thirty-tree inches. (b) To go out for a short distance or a short time. -- To step short (Mil.), to diminish the length or rapidity of the step according to the established rules.