See Also: US Steel(finance)
steel(2)(dictionary)
INI Steel(finance)
Steel(medicine)
steel(encyclopedia)
steel(dictionary)
steel(1)(dictionary)
carbon steel(encyclopedia)
steel mill(dictionary)
Nippon Steel(finance)

steel(1) (iou)



steel noun1 & adjective. [sti:l]

A. noun.
Any of numerous artificially produced alloys of iron containing up to 3 per cent of other elements (including less than about 2.2 per cent carbon) and having great strength and malleability, much used for making tools, weapons, machinery, etc., and able to be tempered to many different degrees of hardness. OE.
A. H. Cottrell About 80 per cent of steel in Britain is made by the open hearth process.
b. A particular variety of this. Freq. with defining word. E19.
blister steel, cast steel, mild steel, run steel, stainless steel, etc.; carbon steel, chrome steel, manganese steel, etc.; maraging steel, rimming steel, structural steel, etc.
c. A cold shade of grey resembling the colour of steel. Also steel-grey. L19.
Steel in the form of weapons, cutting tools, etc.; a weapon, a sword. Also, steel shot, steel shells. OE.
Byron Bury your steel in the bosoms of Gath. R. Aldington The earth was rent and torn By bursting steel.
As a type of hardness, inflexibility, or strength, esp. in phrs. and combs. ME.
B. Montgomery An army must be as hard as steel in battle.
b. Power of endurance or sustained effort. M19.
Steel as the material of defensive armour. Now rare. ME.
Any of various instruments made of steel, esp. (a) a piece of steel shaped for the purpose of striking fire with a flint; (b) a rod of steel, fluted or plain, fitted with a handle and used to sharpen knives; (c) (obsolete exc. dial.) a flat-iron; (d) dial. a needle, a knitting-needle. ME.
A piece of steel forming part of something. LME.
A strip of steel used to give stiffness or support, or to expand the skirt of a dress. E17.
Iron or steel as used medicinally, esp. in the form of iron chloride. Now rare. M17.
(An illustration printed from) an engraved steel plate. M19.
In pl. Shares in steel-manufacturing companies. E20.
Phrases: cold steel steel in the form of a weapon or weapons; swords, spears, etc., collectively. draw one's steel, draw steel draw one's sword or pistol. end of steel: see END noun 7c. have nerves of steel: see NERVE noun. salt of steel a salt of iron, esp. iron chloride. true as steel thoroughly trustworthy, reliable.
Comb.: steel band (a) a band of musicians who play (chiefly calypso-style) music on steel drums; (b) Austral. a hard thin stratum of iron-bearing siliceous material lying above an opal deposit; steel bandsman a musician in a steel band; steel-bender a worker who bends steel rods or girders into shape for reinforced concrete; steel-blue adjective & noun (of) a dark bluish-grey colour; steel-bow, steel-bowed adjectives (US) (of spectacles) having steel frames; Steel boy Hist. a member of an Irish rebel society of the 1770s (cf. oak-boy s.v. OAK adjective); steel-clad adjective wearing steel armour; armour-plated; steel driver US a worker who makes holes for explosive charges, using a steel stake and a sledgehammer; steel drum a percussion instrument originating in the W. Indies, made out of an oil drum with one end beaten down and divided into grooved sections to give different notes; steel drummer a person who plays a steel drum; steel engraving the process of engraving on, or an impression taken from, a steel-coated copper plate; steel-face verb trans. cover (an engraved metal plate) with a film of steel to increase its durability (chiefly as steel-faced ppl adjective, steel-facing verbal noun); steel fixer a skilled steel worker in the construction industries; steel frame a framework, esp. of a building, made of steel; steel-framed adjective having a steel frame; steel guitar (a) HAWAIIAN guitar (b) = pedal steel (guitar) s.v. PEDAL noun1; steelhead N. Amer. (a) the rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri (also steelhead trout); (b) the ruddy duck, Oxyura jamaicensis; steelheader N. Amer. a person who fishes for steelhead trout; steel-iron (a) native iron resembling steel; (b) iron suitable for converting into steel; steel mill (a) a device for producing a stream of sparks from a revolving steel disc in contact with a flint, used for light in coalmines before the invention of the safety lamp; (b) a small mill with steel parts for grinding corn; (c) a factory where steel is rolled into sheets; steel pan a steel drum; steel pen (a) a pen-nib made of steel, split at the tip; (b) US colloq. (arch.) a tail-coat; steel tape: see TAPE noun & verb; steel trap a trap with jaws and spring of steel; steel wool fine strands of steel matted together, used as an abrasive, esp. for scouring; steelwork work in steel, that part of a building etc. that is made of steel; steelworks a place or building where steel is manufactured.
b. attrib. or as adjective.
Made or consisting of steel; containing steel; fig. resembling steel in strength or hardness. ME.
b. Of the colour of steel. M19.
Of or pertaining to the manufacture of steel. E17.
steel furnace, steel plant, steel town, etc.