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The act or process of steeping or soaking any substance in water in order to extract its virtues.

ny conspicuous object on land that serves as a guide; some prominent object, as a hill or steeple. Landmarks of history, important events by which eras or conditions are determined.

An embankment to prevent inundation; as, the levees along the Mississippi; sometimes, the steep bank of a river. [U. S. ]

A steep ravine.

To soften by steeping in a liquid, with or without heat; to wear away or separate the parts of by steeping; as, to macerate animal or vegetable fiber.

Barley or other grain, steeped in water and dried in a kiln, thus forcing germination until the saccharine principle has been evolved. It is used in brewing and in the distillation of whisky.

A hipped curb roof; that is, a roof having on all sides two slopes, the lower one being steeper than the upper one.

bruised malt, or meal of rye, wheat, corn, or other grain (or a mixture of malt and meal) steeped and stirred in hot water for making the wort.

Resembling a wall; perpendicular or steep; as, a mural precipice. Mural circle (Astron.), a graduated circle, in the plane of the meridian, attached permanently to a perpendicular wall; -- used for measuring arcs of the meridian. See Circle, n., 3. -- Mural crown (Rom. Antiq.), a golden crown, or circle of gold indent…

eclivity itself; a descending slope; the degree or rate of descent or slope; slant; as, a steep pitch in the road; the pitch of a roof.

A headlong steep; a very steep, perpendicular, or overhanging place; an abrupt declivity; a cliff. Where wealth like fruit on precipices grew. Dryden.

Falling, flowing, or rushing, with steep descent; headlong. Precipitate the furious torrent flows. Prior.

Steep, like a precipice; as, a precipitous cliff or mountain.

The dung of dogs, used as an alkaline steep in tanning. Simmonds.

aid as a rail, to afford a hold for teeth on the driving wheel of locomotive for climbing steep gradients, as in ascending a mountain. -- Rack saw, a saw having wide teeth. -- Rack stick, the stick used in a rack lashing. -- To be on the rack, to suffer torture, physical or mental. -- To live at rack and manger, to…

Developed with steep slopes inside a district previously worn down nearly to base level; -- said of topography, or features of topography, as valleys, hills, etc.

of wood, stone, or any other material, to sustain an embankment when it receives a slope steeper than the natural slope; also, a retaining wall. [Written also revêtement (

An amusement railroad in which cars coast by gravity over a long winding track, with steep pitches and ascents.

f the nave and transept of a church; -- when crowned with a spire it was called also rood steeple. Weale. -- Rood tree, the cross. [Obs.] "Died upon the rood tree." Gower.

An isolated or protruding rock; a steep, rocky eminence; a bare place on the side of a mountain or steep bank of earth. [Written also scaur.] O sweet and far, from cliff and scar, The horns of Elfland faintly blowing. Tennyson.