Definition of: steel

(stēl) noun
1. A tough alloy of iron containing carbon in variable amounts up to about 2.0 percent, malleable under proper conditions, and greatly hardened by sudden cooling. Commercial grades are classified, on the basis of carbon content, as: mild or soft steel, with up to about 0.30 percent of carbon; medium steel, 0.30 to 0.60 percent of carbon, and high or hard steel, containing more than 0.60 percent of carbon. The addition of other components gives a large range of alloys having special properties, as chrome steel, nickel steel, etc.
2. Something made of steel, as an implement or weapon; a sword; a knife sharpener.
3. Hardness of character; steel–like nature or quality.
4. A strip or band of steel, as for stiffening a corset.
5. The quotation for shares in a steel company.
—adjective Made or composed of steel; also, resembling steel; hence, hard; obdurate; adamant; unyielding.
—v.t.
1. To cover with steel; plate, edge, point, or face with steel.
2. To make hard or strong like steel; make unfeeling or unyielding; harden: to steel one's heart against misery. ♦ Homophones: steal, stele. [OE stēl]