steak 
scorched), akin to stika, a stick: see stick 1 , 
stick 3 .'] 1. A slice of flesh, as beef, pork, veni- 
son, or halibut, broiled or fried, or cut for broil- 
ing or frying. 
Steke of flesshe charbonnee. Palsgrave, p. 275. 
Fair ladies, number flve, 
Who, in your merry freaks, 
With little Tom contrive 
To feast on ale and steaks. 
Swift, Five Ladies at Sot's Hole. 
2f. A slash or panel in a garment. 
Is that your lackey yonder, in the steaks of velvet? 
Middleton, Phoenix, i. 5. 
Hamburg steak, raw beef, chopped tine, seasoned with 
onions, etc., formed into a cake, and cooked in a close 
frying-pan. Porter-house steak. See porter-house. 
Round steak, a steak from the round. Rump steak. 
See rump-steak. Tenderloin Steak. See tenderloin. 
steak-crusher (stak'krush"6r), 11. A kitchen 
utensil for pounding, rolling, or otherwise 
crushing a steak before cooking, to make it 
tender. 
steal 1 (stel), v. ; pret. stole, pp. stolen (formerly 
stole), ppr. stealing. [< ME. stelen, steolen (pret. 
stal, stale, stel, pp. stolen, stoolen, stole, i-stolen), 
< AS. stelan (pret. stsel, pi. stMlon, pp. stolen) = 
OS. stelan = OFries. stela = D. stelen MLG. 
LG. stelen = OHG. stelan, MHG. stein, G. stehlen 
= Icel. stela = Sw. stjcila = Dan. stjxle = Goth. 
stilan, steal. Connection with Gr. areplaKtiv, 
arepeiv, deprive of, is doubtful. Hence ult. 
stale 1 , stealth. For another word for 'steal,' 
with L. and Gr. connections, see lifts.] J, trans. 
1. To take feloniously; take and carry off clan- 
destinely, and without right or leave; appro- 
priate to one's own uses dishonestly, or with- 
out right, permission, or authority: as applied 
to persons, to kidnap; abduct: as, to steal some 
one's purse ; to steal cattle ; to steal a child. 
Whan Grisandol saugh he was on slepe, she and hir fel- 
owes com as softely as thei myght, and stale awey his 
staffe. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 426. 
How then should we steal out of thy lord's house silver 
or gold? Gen. xliv. 8. 
2. To remove, withdraw, or abstract secretly 
. or stealthily. 
And from beneath his Head, at dawning Day, 
With softest Care have stoln my Arm away. 
Prior, Solomon, ii. 
3t. To smuggle, literally or figuratively. 
Pray Walsh to steal you in, as I hope he will do. 
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 187. 
All the Spices and drugs that are brought to Mecca are 
stollen from thence as Contrabanda. 
Hakluyts Voyages, II. 223. 
4. To take or assume without right. 
Oh, that deceit should steal such gentle shapes, 
And with a virtuous vizard hide foul guile ! 
Shak., Rich. III., ii. 2. 27. 
5. To obtain surreptitiously, or by stealth or 
surprise : as, to steal a kiss. 
What sought these lovers then, by day, by night, 
But stolen moments of disturb'd delight? 
Crabbe, Works, I. 48. 
6. To entice or win by insidious arts or secret 
means. 
How many a holy and obsequious tear 
Hath dear religious love stol'n from mine eye ! 
Shak., Sonnets, xxxi. 
Thou hast discovered some enchantment old 
Whose spells have stolen my spirit as I slept. 
Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, ii. 1. 
7. To perform, procure, or effect in a stealthy 
or underhand way ; perform secretly ; conceal 
the doing, performance, or accomplishment of. 
And than lough Arthur, and seide to the kynge Ban that 
this mariage wolde he haue stole hadde no Merlin i-be. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 363. 
I went this evening to visit a friend, with a design to 
rally him upon a story I had heard of his intending to 
steal a marriage without the privity of us his intimate 
friends and acquaintance. Steele, Spectator, No. 133. 
8. To move furtively and slyly: as, she stole 
her hand into his. 
The 'prentice speaks his disrespect by an extended 
finger, and the porter by stealing out his tongue. 
Steele, Spectator, No. 354. 
0. In base-ball, to secure, as a base or run, with- 
out an error by one's opponents or a base-hit 
by the batter ; to run successfully to, as from 
one base to the next, in spite of the efforts of 
one's opponents : as, to steal ^second base : some- 
times used intransitively with to : as, to steal to 
second base. 10. In netting, to take away (a 
mesh) by netting into two meshes of the pre- 
ceding row at once. Encyc. Brit., XVII. 359. 
To steal a by. See i>.yi. To'steal a march, to march 
secretly ; anticipate or forestall, or otherwise gain an ad- 
vantage stealthily, or by address. To steal overt, to 
smuggle. 
5919 
In the Flushing and Low Country's troublesome dis- 
orders, some few (by stealing oner of victuals and other 
tilings from this commonwealth) have made themselves 
privately rich. Dr. J. Dee (Arber's Eng. Garner, II. 68). 
Syn. 1. To filch, pilfer, purloin, embezzle. See pillage, n. 
LL.iiitrans. 1. To practise or be guilty of theft. 
Thou shalt not steal. Ex. xx. 15. 
2. To move stealthily or secretly ; creep soft- 
ly; pass, approach, or withdraw surreptitiously 
and unperceived; go or come furtively; slip 
or creep along insidiously, silently, or unper- 
ceived ; make insinuating approach : as, to steal 
into the house at dusk ; the fox stole away : 
sometimes used reflexively. 
Age is so on me stoolen that y mote to god me jilde. 
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 72. 
Fix'd of mind ... to fly all company, one night she 
stole away. Sir P. Sidney. 
He will steal himself into a man's favour, and for a week 
escape a great deal of discoveries. 
Shak., All's Well, iii. 6. 98. 
But what has made Sir Peter steal off? I thought he 
had been with you. Sheridan, School for Scandal, iv. 3. 
Ever does natural beauty steal in like air, and envelop 
great actions. Emerson, Misc., p. 25. 
steal 1 (stel). n. [< steal 1 , v.~\ An act or a case 
of theft : as, an official steal ; specifically, in base- 
ball, a stolen or furtive run from one base to 
another: as, a steal to third base. See steal 1 , 
v. t., 9. 
steal 2 (stel), . Same as stale'^. 
Stealer (ste'ler), . [< steal 1 + -er 1 .~\ 1. One 
who steals, in any sense ; especially, a thief: as, 
a cattle-stealer. 
The trangression is in the stealer. 
Shak., Much Ado, ii. 1. 233. 
Specifically 2. In ship-building, the foremost 
or aftmost plank in a strake, which is dropped 
short of the stem or stern-post and butts against 
a notch or jog in another plank. Also called 
stealing-strake. 
When the girth of the ship at the midship section is so 
much in excess of each or either of those at the extremi- 
ties as to cause the plates to be very narrow if the same 
number were retained right fore and aft, it becomes ne- 
cessary to introduce stealers that is to say, to cause cer- 
tain plates to stop somewhere between the extremities and 
midships, and thus reduce the number of strakes which 
end on the stem and stern post. 
Thearle, Naval Arch., 138. 
Stealing (ste'ling), . [Verbal n. of steal 1 , .] 
1. The act of one who steals; theft. 
Men are apt to condemn whatever they hear called 
stealing as an ill action, disagreeing with the rule of right. 
Loeke, Human Understanding, II. xxviii. 18. 
2. That which is stolen ; stolen property : used 
chiefly in the plural : as, his stealings amounted 
to thousands of dollars. 
stealingly (ste'ling-li), adv. [< ME. stelendlich; 
< stealing, ppr., + -ly z .~] By stealing; slyly; 
secretly. [Bare.] 
stealing-strake (ste'ling-strak), n. Same as 
stealer, 2. 
stealth (stelth), n. [Early mod. E. also stelth; 
< ME. stelthe, stalthe (= Icel. stuldr = Sw. stold), 
stealth, with abstract formative -th,<. AS. stelan, 
steal: see steal 1 . Another form, from the 
Scand., is stoutli. The older noun was stale 1 . 
Cf. health, heal 1 , wealth, weal.] If. The act of 
stealing; theft. 
Yf that Licurgus should have made it death for the Lace- 
demonians to steale, they being a people which naturally 
delighted in stealth, . . . there should have bene few Lace- 
demonians then left. Spenser, State of Ireland. 
2f. A thing stolen. 
On his backe a heavy load he bare 
Of nightly stelths, and pillage several!. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. iii. 16. 
3. A secret or clandestine method or proceed- 
ing; means secretly employed to gain an ob- 
ject ; surreptitious way or manner : used in a 
good or a bad sense. 
Yef it were oon that wolde assay hym-self in eny 
straunge turnementby stelthe vnknowen whan thei were 
disgised that thei wolde not be knowe till thei hadde re- 
nomee of grete prowesse. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 502. 
Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame, 
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame. 
Pope, Epil. to Satires, 1. 136. 
4t. A secret going; a stolen or clandestine 
visit. 
I told him of your stealth unto this wood. 
Shak., M. N. D., iii. 2. 310. 
stealthfult (stelth'ful), a. [< stealth + -/.] 
Given to stealth ; bent on stealing ; stealthy. 
Chapman, tr. of Homer's Hymn to Hermes, 
1. 369. 
stealthfullyt (stelth'ful-i), adv. By stealing; 
stealthily, 
stealthfiilnesst (stelth'ful-nes), n. Stealthi- 
steam 
stealthily (stel'thi-li), fidr. In a stealthy man- 
ner; by stealth. 
stealthiness (stel'thi-nes), H. Stealthy char- 
acter or action. 
stealthy (stel'thi), n. Acting by stealth ; sly; 
secretive in act or manner; employing con- 
cealed methods : as, a stealthy foe ; character- 
ized by concealment; furtive: as, a xtrnlflii/ 
proceeding; a stealthy movement. 
Murder . . . with his stealthy pace. 
Muk.. Macbeth, ii. 1. 54. 
Footfalls of xti'altluf men he seemed to hear. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 321. 
See where the stealthy panther left his tracks ! 
0. W. Uolmes, A Family Record. 
Steam t stem), n. [< ME. steem, xtrm, < AS. steam, 
vapor, smell, smoke, = Fries, stoante = D. 
stoom, steam; origin unknown.] 1. Vapor; a 
rising vapor; an exhalation. 
Fough ! what a steam of brimstone 
Is here ! B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, T. 4. 
2. Water in a gaseous state ; the gas or vapor 
of water, especially at temperatures above 
100 C. It has a specific gravity of .625 as compared 
with air under the same pressure. It liquefies at 100 C. 
(212 F.), under a pressure of 14.7 pounds upon a square 
inch, or the mean pressure of the atmosphere at the sea- 
level. The temperature at which it liquefies diminishes 
with the pressure. Steam constantly rises from the sur- 
face of liquid water when not obstructed by impervious 
inclosures or covered by another gas already saturated 
with it. Its total latent heat of vaporization for 1 pound 
weight under a pressure of 76 centimeters of mercury 
(or 14.7 pounds to the square inch) is 965.7 British ther- 
mal units, or 536.5 calories for each kilogram. Its spe- 
cific heat under constant pressure is .4805. (Regnavlt.) 
It is decomposed into oxygen and hydrogen at tempera- 
tures between 1,000 and 2,000 C. (Deville.) In addition 
to the surface evaporation of water, the change from the 
liquid to the gaseous state takes place beneath the sur- 
face (the gas escaping with ebullition) whenever the tem- 
perature of the liquid is raised without a corresponding 
increase of pressure upon it. The temperature at which 
this occurs under any particular pressure is the boiling- 
point for that pressure. The boiling-point of water under 
the atmospheric pressure at the sea-level is 100 C. or 
212 F. Saturated steam has the physical properties com- 
mon to all gases whose temperatures are near those of 
their liquefying-points, or the boiling-points of their li- 
quids. Saturated steam when isolated, and superheated 
at temperatures from 100 to 110 C., and under constant 
pressure, expands with a given increase of temperature 
about flve times as much as air, and at 186 C. about twice 
as much as air ; and it must be raised to a tempera- 
ture much higher than this before it will expand uni- 
formly like air. The large quantity of latent heat in 
steam, its great elasticity, and the ease with which it may 
be condensed have rendered its use in engines more 
practicable than that of any other gaseous medium for 
the generation and application of mechanical power. 
3. Water in a visible vesicular condition pro- 
duced by the condensation of vapor of water in 
air. 4. Figuratively, force ; energy. [Colloq.] 
5t. A flame or blaze; a ray of light. 
Steem, or lowe of fyre. Flamma. Prompt. Parv., p. 473. 
Absolute steam-pressure. Seepresmre. Dead steam. 
Same a&exhaust-steam. Dry steam, saturated steam with- 
out any admixture of mechanically suspended water. 
High-pressure steam, low-pressure steam. Seepres- 
sure. Live steam, steam which has performed no work, 
or only part of its work, or which is or might be available 
for the performance of work in an engine. Saturated 
Steam, steam in contact with water at the same tempera- 
ture. In this condition the steam is always at its con- 
densing-point, which is also the boiling-point of the water 
with which it is in contact. In this it differs from super- 
heated steam of equal tension, which has a temperature 
higher than its condensing-point at that tension, and 
higher than the boiling-point of water under the same 
pressure. Specific steam-volume, in thermodynamics, 
the volume which a unit of weight of steam assumes under 
specific conditions of temperature and pressure. Steam 
fire-engine. See fire-engine, 2. Steam jet-pump. See 
pumpi. Steam vacuum-pump. See vacuum-pump. 
Superheated steam, steam which at any stated pressure 
has a higher temperature, and for any particular weight 
of it a greater volume, than saturated steam (which see, 
above) at the same pressure. Also called steam-gas. To- 
tal heat of steam. Same as steam-heat, 1. Wet steam, 
steam holding water mechanically suspended, the water 
being in the form of spray or vesicles, or both. 
Steam (stem), v. [Early mod. E. also steem ; < 
ME. stemen, < AS. steman, styman (= D. stoo- 
men), steam, < steam, vapor, steam: see steam, 
.] I. intrans. 1. To give out steam or vapor ; 
exhale any kind of fume or vapor. 
Ye mists, . . . that . . . rise 
From hill or steaming lake. 
Milton, P. L., v. 186. 
2. To rise in a vaporous form ; pass off in visi- 
ble vapor. 
When the last deadly smoke aloft did steeme. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. xii. 2. 
3. To move or travel by the agency of steam: 
as, the vessel steamed into port. 
We steamed quietly on, past . . . the crowds of yachts 
at Ryde, and dropped anchor off Cowes. 
Lady Brassey, Voyage of Sunbeam, I. i. 
4f. To flame or blaze up. 
