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Proceeding by the smaller intervals (half steps or semitones) of the scale, instead of the regular intervals of the diatonic scale.

A lively dance (called also galliard), the steps of which were regulated by the number five. [Obs.] Nares. Shak.

of an individual. Civil men come nearer the saints of God than others; they come within a step or two of heaven. Preston

A heavy footstep; a tramp.

f poverty." Cowper. An expiring clutch at popularity. Carlyle. But Age, with his stealing steps, Hath clawed me in his clutch. Shak.

come to pass, to happen; to fall out. -- To come to the scratch. (a) (Prize Fighting) To step up to the scratch or mark made in the ring to be toed by the combatants in beginning a contest; hence: (b) To meet an antagonist or a difficulty bravely. [Colloq.] -- To come to time. (a) (Prize Fighting) To come forward in o…

A small interval (the difference beyween a major and minor half step), seldom used except by tuners. Comma bacillus (Physiol.), a variety of bacillus shaped like a comma, found in the intestines of patients suffering from cholera. It is considered by some as having a special relation to the disease; -- called also chol…

To pledge or bind; to compromise, expose, or endanger by some decisive act or preliminary step; -- often used reflexively; as, to commit one's self to a certain course. You might have satisfied every duty of political friendship, without commiting the honor of your sovereign. Junius. Any sudden assent to the proposal .…

ficiency, or to complete a symmetrical whole. History is the complement of poetry. Sir J. Stephen.

e, the body of cardinals. It was said a cardinal, by reason of his apparent likelihood to step into St. Peter's chair, that in two conclaves he went in pope and came out again cardinal. South.

A pulley for driving machines, etc., having two or more parts or steps of different diameters; a pulley having a conical shape.

rding, or protecting; the keeping (of a thing) in a safe or entire state; preservation. A step necessary for the conservation of Protestantism. Hallam. A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation. Burke. Conservation of areas (Astron.), the principle that the radius vector drawn fr…

o a particular subject; meditation; musing; study. In contemplation of created things, By steps we may ascend to God. Milton. Contemplation is keeping the idea which is brought into the mind for some time actually in view. Locke.

A piece of wood having a curve corresponding to that of the upper part of the instep, on which the upper leather of a boot is stretched to give it the requisite shape.

inite crystalline outline and not referable to any mineral species, but marking the first step in the crystallization process. According to their form crystallites are called trichites, belonites, globulites, etc.

The scroll termination of any architectural member, as of a step, etc.

ut out work for another day. "Every man had cut out a place for himself." Addison. (d) To step in and take the place of; to supplant; as, to cut out a rival. [Colloq.]

To move with measured steps, or to a musical accompaniment; to go through, either alone or in company with others, with a regulated succession of movements, (commonly) to the sound of music; to trip or leap rhytmically. Jack shall pipe and Gill shall dance. Wiher. Good shepherd, what fair swain is this Which dances wit…

t; decorous; proper; seemly; as, decent conduct; decent language. Shak. Before his decent steps. Milton.

e; as, to decoy troops into an ambush; to decoy ducks into a net. Did to a lonely cot his steps decoy. Thomson. E'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy, The heart, distrusting, asks if this be joy. Goldsmith.