different between steep vs duck

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: st?p, IPA^(key): /sti?p/
• Rhymes: -i?p

Etymology 1

From Middle English steep, from Old English st?ap (“high”), from Proto-Germanic *staupaz. Compare Old Frisian st?p, Dutch stoop (“grand; proud”), Middle High German stouf (“towering cliff, precipice”), Middle High German stief (“steep”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewb- (“to push, stick”). The Proto-Indo-European root (and related) has many and varied descendants, including English stub; compare also Scots stap (“to strike, to forcibly insert”).

The sense of “sharp slope” is attested circa 1200; the sense “expensive” is attested US 1856.

Adjective

steep (comparative steeper, superlative steepest)

1. Of a near-vertical gradient; of a slope, surface, curve, etc. that proceeds upward at an angle near vertical.

2. (informal) expensive

3. (obsolete) Difficult to access; not easy reached; lofty; elevated; high.
   • 1596, George Chapman, De Guiana, carmen Epicum

     Her ears and thoughts in steep amaze erected

4. (of the rake of a ship's mast, or a car's windshield) resulting in a mast or windshield angle that strongly diverges from the perpendicular

Derived terms

• steepen

Synonyms

• (dialectal) brant

Translations

Noun

steep (plural steeps)

1. The steep side of a mountain etc.; a slope or acclivity.
   • 1833, Banjamin Disraeli, The Wondrous Tale of Alroy

     It ended precipitously in a dark and narrow ravine, formed on the other side by an opposite mountain, the lofty steep of which was crested by a city gently rising on a gradual slope

Etymology 2

From Middle English stepen, from Old Norse steypa (“to make stoop, cast down, pour out, cast (metal)”), from Proto-Germanic *staupijan? (“to tumble, make tumble, plunge”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewb- (“to push, hit”). Cognate with Danish støbe (“cast (metal)”), Norwegian støpe, støype, Swedish stöpa (“to found, cast (metal)”), Old English st?pian (“to stoop, bend the back, slope”). Doublet of stoop.

Verb

steep (third-person singular simple present steeps, present participle steeping, simple past and past participle steeped)

1. (transitive, middle) To soak or wet thoroughly.
   • 1820, William Wordsworth, Composed at Cora Linn, in sight of Wallace's Tower

     In refreshing dews to steep / The little, trembling flowers.

2. (intransitive, figuratively) To imbue with something; to be deeply immersed in.
   • 1871, John Earle, The Philology of the English Tongue

   The learned of the nation were steeped in Latin.

   • 1989, Black 47, Big Fellah:

     We fought against each other, two brothers steeped in blood / But I never doubted that your heart was broken in the flood / And though we had to shoot you down in golden Béal na mBláth / I always knew that Ireland lost her greatest son of all.

Derived terms

• insteep

Translations

Noun

steep (countable and uncountable, plural steeps)

1. A liquid used in a steeping process

   Corn steep has many industrial uses.

2. A rennet bag.

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Estep, Tepes, speet, teeps, tepes

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: d?k, IPA^(key): /d?k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Etymology 1

From Middle English *dukken, from Old English *ducan, *duccan (“to duck”). Related to Scots dulk (“to duck”), Middle Dutch ducken (“to duck”), Low German ducken (“to duck”), German ducken (“to duck”), Danish dukke, dykke (“to dive”); a secondary verb akin to Middle English duken, douken (“to duck, plunge under water, submerge”), from Old English *d?can (“to dip, dive, duck”), from Proto-Germanic *d?kan? (“to dip, dive, bend down, stoop, duck”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *d?ewb- (“deep, hollow”) (whence Proto-Germanic *d?ban? (“to dive”)). Related also to Scots dook, douk (“to bathe, drench, soak, baptise”), West Frisian dûke (“to plunge, dive”), Dutch duiken (“to dive, plunge, duck”), Low German duken (“to duck, dive, stoop”), German tauchen (“to dive, plunge, immerse, duck”), Swedish dyka (“to dive, submerge”).

Verb

duck (third-person singular simple present ducks, present participle ducking, simple past and past participle ducked)

1. (intransitive) To quickly lower the head or body in order to prevent it from being struck by something.

2. (transitive) To quickly lower (the head) in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
   • c. 1729, Jonathan Swift, To Dr. Delany on the Libels Written Against Him

     As some raw youth in country bred,
     To arms by thirst of honour led,
     When at a skirmish first he hears
     The bullets whistling round his ears,
     Will duck his head aside

3. (transitive) To lower (something) into water; to thrust or plunge under liquid and suddenly withdraw.
   • 1742, Henry Fielding, Joseph Andrews

     Adams, after ducking the squire twice or thrice, leaped out of the tub.

4. (intransitive) To go under the surface of water and immediately reappear; to plunge one's head into water or other liquid.

   • In Tiber ducking thrice by break of day.

5. (intransitive) To bow.
   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens

     The learned pate / Ducks to the golden fool.

6. (transitive) To evade doing something.
7. (transitive) To lower the volume of (a sound) so that other sounds in the mix can be heard more clearly.
8. (intransitive) To enter a place for a short moment.

Synonyms

• (to lower the head): duck down
• (to lower into the water): dip, dunk
• (to lower in order to prevent it from being struck by something): dip

Coordinate terms

• (to lower the head or body to prevent it from being struck): hit the deck

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English doke, ducke, dukke, dokke, douke, duke, from Old English duce, d?ce (“duck”, literally “dipper, diver, ducker”), from Old English *d?can (“to dip, dive, duck”), from Proto-Germanic *d?kan? (“to dive, bend down”). See verb above. Cognate with Scots duik, duke, dook (“duck”), Danish dukand, dykand (“sea-duck”), Swedish dykfågel (“a diver, diving bird, plungeon”), Middle Dutch duycker (“diver”), Low German düker (“diver”).

Alternative forms

• ducke (obsolete)

Noun

duck (countable and uncountable, plural ducks)

1. An aquatic bird of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet.
2. Specifically, an adult female duck; contrasted with drake and with duckling.
3. (uncountable) The flesh of a duck used as food.
4. (cricket) A batsman's score of zero after getting out. (short for duck's egg, since the digit "0" is round like an egg.)
5. (slang) A playing card with the rank of two.
6. A partly-flooded cave passage with limited air space.
7. A building intentionally constructed in the shape of an everyday object to which it is related.

   A luncheonette in the shape of a coffee cup is particularly conspicuous, as is intended of an architectural duck or folly.

   • 2007, Cynthia Blair, "It Happened on Long Island: 1988—Suffolk County Adopts the Big Duck," Newsday, 21 Feb.:

     The Big Duck has influenced the world of architecture; any building that is shaped like its product is called a ‘duck’.

8. A marble to be shot at with another marble (the shooter) in children's games.
9. (US) A cairn used to mark a trail.
10. One of the weights used to hold a spline in place for the purpose of drawing a curve.
11. (finance, slang, dated) Synonym of lame duck (“one who cannot fulfil their contracts”)
12. (medicine) A long-necked medical urinal for men.

Hyponyms

• (bird): Anas platyrhynchos (domesticus), Mallard-derived domestic breeds, including Pekin, Rouen, Campbell, Call, Runner; Cairina moschata, Muscovy duck

Derived terms

Translations

See also

References

• Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. ?ISBN

Etymology 3

From Dutch doek, from Middle Dutch doeck, doec (“linen cloth”), from Old Dutch *d?c, from Proto-West Germanic *d?k, from Proto-Germanic *d?kaz (“cloth, rag”), from Proto-Indo-European *dw?g-, *dw?k-. Cognate with German Tuch (“cloth”), Swedish duk (“cloth, canvas”), Icelandic dúkur (“cloth, fabric”). Doublet of doek.

Alternative forms

• dook, doock (Scotland)

Noun

duck (plural ducks)

2. A tightly-woven cotton fabric used as sailcloth.
   • 1912, Katherine Mansfield, "The Woman At The Store", from Selected Short Stories:

     He was dressed in a Jaeger vest—a pair of blue duck trousers, fastened round the waist with a plaited leather belt.

3. (in the plural) Trousers made of such material.
   • 1918, Rebecca West, The Return of the Soldier, Virago 2014, page 56:

     And they would go up and find old Allington, in white ducks, standing in the fringe of long grasses and cow-parsley on the other edge of the island […].

   • 1954, Doris Lessing, A Proper Marriage, HarperPerennial 1995, p. 74:

     A native servant emerged, anonymous in his white ducks and red fez, to say My Player was wanted on the telephone.

Derived terms

• duck tape

Translations

Etymology 4

Potteries dialect, Black Country dialect and dialects of the former territory of Mercia (central England). Compare Danish dukke (“doll”), Swedish docka (“baby; doll”), dialectal English doxy (“sweetheart”).

Noun

duck (plural ducks)

1. A term of endearment; pet; darling.

   And hold-fast is the only dog, my duck (William Shakespeare - The Life of King Henry the Fifth, Act 2, Scene 3).

2. (Midlands) Dear, mate (informal way of addressing a friend or stranger).

   Ay up duck, ow'a'tha?

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:friend

Derived terms

• ay up me duck
• duckie

References

• duck at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Birks, Steve (2005-01-26) , “The history of the Potteries dialect”, in BBC?^[2], retrieved 2014-11-19

German

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?k

Verb

duck

1. singular imperative of ducken