Emily Dickinson Lexicon

STEAL'ING-LY, adv.

Slily; privately, or by an invisible motion. [Little used.] – Sidney.

STEALTH, n. [stelth.]

1. The act of stealing; theft. The owner proveth the stealth to have been committed on him by such an outlaw. – Spenser.
2. The thing stolen; as, cabins that are dens to cover stealth. [Not in use.] – Ralegh.
3. Secret act; clandestine practice; means unperceived employed to gain an object; way or manner not perceived; used in a good or bad sense. Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame. – Pope. The monarch blinded with desire of wealth, / With steel invades the brother's life by stealth. – Dryden.

STEALTH'FUL, a.

Given to stealth.

STEALTH'FUL-LY, adv.

In a stealthful manner.

STEALTH'FUL-NESS, n.

State of being stealthful.

STEALTH'I-LY, adv.

By stealth.

STEALTH'Y, a. [stelth'y.]

Done by stealth; clandestinely; unperceived. Now wither'd murder with his stealthy pace / Moves like a ghost. – Shak.

STEAM, n. [Sax. steam, stem; D. stoom.]

1. The vapor of water; or the elastic, aeriform fluid generated by heating water to the boiling point. When produced under the common atmospheric pressure, its elasticity is equivalent to the pressure of the atmosphere, and it is called low steam; but when heated in a confined state, its elastic force is rapidly augmented, and it is then called high steam. On the application of cold, steam instantly returns to the state of water, and thus forms a sudden vacuum. From this property, and from the facility with which an elastic force is generated by means of steam, this constitutes a mechanical agent at once the most powerful and the most manageable, as is seen in the vast and multiplied uses of the steam engine. Steam is invisible, and is to be distinguished from the cloud or mist which it forms in the air, that being water in a minute state of division, resulting from the condensation of steam. D. Olmsted.
2. In popular use, the mist formed by condensed vapor.

STEAM, v.i.

1. To rise or pass off in vapor by means of heat; to fume. Let the crude humors dance / In heated brass, steaming with fire intense. – Philips.
2. To send off visible vapor. Ye mists that rise from steaming lake.
3. To pass off in visible vapor. The dissolved amber – steamed away into the air. – Boyle.

STEAM, v.t.

1. To exhale; to evaporate. [Not much used.] Spenser.
2. To expose to steam; to apply steam to for softening, dressing or preparing; as, to steam cloth; to steam potatoes instead of boiling them; to steam food for cattle.

STEAM-BOAT, or STEAM-VES-SEL, n.

A vessel propelled through the water by steam.

STEAM-BOIL-ER, n.

A boiler for steaming food for cattle. – Encyc.

STEAM-CAR, n.

A locomotive car used on rail-roads.

STEAM-CAR'RIAGE, n.

A carriage on wheels moved by steam.

STEAM'ED, pp.

Exposed to steam; cooked or dressed by steam.

STEAM-EN-GINE, n.

An engine worked by steam.

STEAM'ER, n.

1. A vessel propelled by steam; a steam-boat.
2. A vessel in which articles are subjected to the action of steam, as in washing or cookery.

STEAM'-GUN, n.

A machine or contrivance by which balls or other projectiles may be driven by the force of steam.

STEAM'ING, ppr.

Exposing to steam; cooking or dressing by steam; preparing for cattle by steam, as roots.

STEAM-PACK-ET, n.

A packet or vessel propelled by steam.

STEAN, n.

For Stone. [Not in use.]

STE-AR'IC, a.

Pertaining to stearin. The stearic acid is produced by the action of alkalies on stearin.

STEAR-IN, n. [Gr. στεαρ, suet.]

One of the proximate principles of animal fat, as lard, tallow, &c. The various kinds of animal fat commonly consist of two substances principally, viz. stearin and elain; of which the former is solid and the latter liquid. In particular instances, several other different and distinct proximate principles are found in animal fats. – D. Olmsted.

STE'A-TITE, n. [Gr. στεαρ, στεατος, fat.]

Soapstone; so called from its smooth or unctuous feel; a subspecies of rhomboidal mica. It is of two kinds, the common, and the pagodite or lard-stone. It is sometimes confounded with talck, to which it is allied. It is a compact stone, white, green of all shades, gray, brown or marbled, and sometimes herborized by black dendrites. It is found in metalliferous veins, with the ores of copper, lead, zink, silver and tin. – New Dict. of Nat. Hist. Ure.

STE-A-TIT'IC, a.

Pertaining to soapstone; of the nature of steatite, or resembling it.