Emily Dickinson Lexicon

STEEL, v.t.

1. To overlay, point or edge with steel; as, to steel the point of a sword; to steel a razor; to steel an ax.
2. To make hard or extremely hard. God of battles, steel my soldiers' hearts. – Shak. Lies well steel'd with weighty arguments. – Shak.
3. To make hard; to make insensible or obdurate; as, to steel the heart against pity; to steel the mind or heart against reproof or admonition.