Forms: 6 stedy(e, 6–7 steddie, steedie, steadie, 6–8 steddy, 7 stydie, -y, study, studdie (Sc.), steedy, 7– steady. [First in Palsgrave 1530; app. f. STEAD sb. + -Y.
Perh. the formation may have been suggested by MLG., MDu. stâdig, stêdig, steady, stable, constant = OHG. stâtîc (MHG. stǣtig, mod.G. stetig constant, perpetual):—WGer. *stādīgo- f. the synonymous *stādjo- (MLG., MDu. stâde, stêde, OHG. stâti, MHG. stǣte, mod.G. stet), f. OTeut. *stǣ- (: sta-) root of STAND v.
Closely similar in meaning, and from the same ultimate root, are ON. stǫðug-r steady, stable (Norw. stødug), and OE. stæððiʓ, ʓestæððiʓ, grave, serious.
OE. had stędiʓ (app. f. stęde STEAD sb.) with the sense ‘barren,’ corresponding to G. stätig, in dial. use ‘barren’ (said of animals), in general use ‘restive, stubborn’ (= LG. stedich, Du. stedig, steeg).]
A. adj.
† 1. Fixed or immovable in position; not liable to give way or become displaced. Also fig. Obs.
1530. Palsgr., 325/2. Stedye stedfast, ferme. Ibid. (1540), Acolastus, I. i. C iv. Wherof I myght promysse to my selfe an euerlastyng and very stedy ioye [L. gaudium perpetuum & bene stabile].
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. vii. 95. The dull Earth’s prop-less massie Ball Stands steddy still.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 596. For if we would moue one of our feete, the other must abide steddie and firme.
a. 1677. Barrow, Serm., Wks. 1716, I. 3. The fool building his choice … not upon the steddy warrant of good reason.
1680. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., x. 175. Any Substance … pitcht steddy upon two points … and moved about on that Axis…. And an Edg-Tool set steddy to that part.
a. 1683. Sidney, Disc. Govt., iii. § 30 (1704), 362. This being built upon the steddy Foundation of Law, History, and Reason, is not to be remov’d.
b. Of affairs: Stable. Of a rule, etc.: Settled, established. ? Obs.
1571. Campion, Hist. Irel., I. xi. (1633), 34. From this time forward the amity waxed steddy.
1627. Drayton, Agincourt, 2. When presently a Parliament is calld To sett things steddy.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxviii [xxix]. § 10. 165. By what has been said, we may observe how much Names, as supposed steady signs of Things … are the occasion of denominating Ideas distinct or confused.
1704. Hearne, Duct. Hist. (1714), I. 13. It was a steady Rule, that the Moon wherein the Vernal Equinox happens should be the Month Nisan.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., ix. It became at length understood … that their union should be deferred no longer than until Butler should obtain some steady means of support.
2. Firm in standing or movement; not tottering, rocking or shaking; that is in stable equilibrium.
1574. Hyll, Art Gard., Ord. Bees, Husb. Conject., i. 48. If any washeth the handes with snowe, it doth then make them steddie.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. vii. 101. Cade. Nay, he noddes at vs, as who should say, Ile be euen with you. Ile see if his head will stand steddier on a pole, or no.
1621. Sanderson, Serm., Ad Pop., iv. § 3 (1637), 356. Othersome … like a young unbroken thing that hath mettall … would be … guided with a steddy and skilfull hand. Ibid. (1624), v. § 20. 434. The colours … are yet so thin: that a steddy eye, not bleered by prejudice, may discerne the lye through them.
1770. Luckombe, Hist. Printing, 319. Justifiers of wood … to wedge it tight and steddy in its place.
1785. Burns, Jolly Beggars, Air II. vi. But whilst with both hands I can hold the glass steady Here’s to thee, my hero, my sodger laddie!
1851. Butler, Wine-dealer, etc. 9. The stands [for casks] should be fixed perfectly steady.
1865. J. B. Harwood, Lady Flavia, xiv. The hand that held the candle was as steady as a rock.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 471. The bottom of the lamp being loaded, it is perfectly steady.
b. Said of things held with a firm hand.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. xi. 16. The knight gan fairely couch his steadie speare.
1711. Shaftesb., Misc. Refl., Charac. III. 37. So this high and noble affection … requires a steddy rein and strict hand over it.
c. Of movements or actions: Free from tremulousness or faltering.
1777. Potter, Æschylus, Agamem., 28. With steddy step I trace foul deeds that smell above the earth.
1845. J. Coulter, Adv. in Pacific, xiii. 182. I determined to do justice to the gun, took a steady aim, and broke the pearl shell to pieces.
3. Of a person or his mind: Not easily perturbed or discomposed; balanced. Of the head: Free from giddiness. Of the eye: Not diverted from its object; unwavering.
1602. Marston, Ant. & Mel., I. B 4 b. Giue me a husband … Of steddie iudgement, quicke and nimble sense.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., IV. v. 264. They need to have steddy heads who can dive into these gulfs of policy.
1672–5. Comber, Comp. Temple (1702), 19. No man can pray with a truly devout and steddy mind, without a known form.
a. 1710. Bp. Bull, Serm. (1713), I. v. 210. Few Men have such steddy Heads as to be able to stand upon the Spires and Pinnacles of Glory without Giddiness.
1819. Shelley, Mask of Anarchy, 344. With folded arms and steady eyes.
b. Of troops, their attributes or actions: Firm, disciplined; not liable to panic or loss of self-control. Also ellipt. = ‘be steady.’
1670. Milton, Hist. Eng., II. 37. Whereby at length all the Foot … with a more steddy charge put the Britans to flight.
1759. Garrick, Song, Hearts of Oak, refrain, Steady, boys, steady! We’ll fight and we’ll conquer again and again.
1769. Robertson, Chas. V., VII. III. 32. The steddy and disciplined valour of the Spanish infantry.
1821. Byron, Sardanap., III. i. 115. Our troops were steady.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxx. The knaves are numerous and steady—Can they not hold out their town against him?
1837. Lever, H. Lorrequer, i. They’re coming up: steady, boys; steady now.
1878. N. Amer. Rev., CXXVI. 252. But they [soldiers] were as steady as clocks and chirpy as crickets.
c. Of a hound: Not easily diverted from the scent. Of a horse: Not nervous, skittish or excitable; also (cf. 4), that travels at a moderate and even pace.
Steady from hare: (of a foxhound) trained to disregard a hare. Cf. quot. 1901 in STEADY v. 2 c.
1735. Somerville, Chase, IV. 125. With these consort The Stanch, and steddy Sages of thy Pack.
1826. J. Cook, Fox-hunting, 107. And to do him [the hound] justice, he was a good finder, steady from hare.
1835. [Sir. G. Stephen], Adv. in Search of Horse, ix. 129. They [mares] may be temperate and steady for months,… and yet when the season arrives, will kick your chaise to pieces.
1852. Burn, Naval & Mil. Techn. Dict., II. (1863), s.v., Horse steady to fire, cheval fait, dressé, sage au feu.
1886. Ruskin, Præterita, I. vi. 182. As a rule, there were four steady horses and a good driver, rarely drunk.
4. Regular in operation or intensity; that is maintained at an even rate of action, output, or the like; uniform, equable.
1548. Elyot’s Dict., s.v. Pressus, Presso gradu incedere, to go a rounde and stedy pase.
1644. Milton, Educ., 6. In which methodicall course … they must proceed by the steddy pace of learning onward.
1766. Johnson, in Boswell (1791), I. 274. Dryden’s horses are either galloping or stumbling: Pope’s go at a steady even trot.
1817. Shelley, Rev. Islam, II. xii. My spirit onward past Beneath truth’s steady beams upon its tumult cast.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xxiii. A steady pull, my lads, and not too much exertion.
1855. Poultry Chron., III. 431. There was a steady trade in all descriptions of barley.
1873. Maxwell, Electr. & Magn. (1881), I. 327. The most convenient method of producing a steady current is by means of the Voltaic Battery.
1874. Green, Short Hist., vi. § 5. 320. The steady rise in the price of wool was … giving a fresh impulse to the agrarian changes.
b. spec. Steady motion (see quots.).
1877. E. J. Routh, Stabil. Given State of Motion, 2. We may therefore define a steady motion to be such that the same change of motion follows from the same initial disturbance at whatever instant the disturbance is communicated to the system.
1882. G. M. Minchin, Unipl. Kinemat., 140. If … all the particles … pass through it with the same velocities and accelerations (both in magnitude and in direction), the record of the motion at P becomes constant, and there is said to be steady motion at P.
c. Of wind, a gale: That blows equably in force and direction.
1612. Coverte, Voy., 7. From the 22. day … wee could haue no steedy gale of wind to carry vs forward, vntill the 25. day.
1726. Shelvocke, Voy. round World (1757), 255. Whilst you are in this road, it is impossible you should have the wind steady in any quarter.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Steady-Gale, a fresh breeze pretty uniform in force and direction.
d. Of weather, temperature: Free from sudden changes, settled. Of climate: Having little variation of temperature. Hence said of an instrument for recording variations of weather.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, July 1694. Glorious steady weather.
1806. G. Pinckard, West Indies, III. xiv. 176. This climate is perhaps one of the most steady in the world, the range of the thermometer … being only from 11 to 15 degrees.
1869. Phillips, Vesuv., iii. 94. The barometer during all the eruption was steady.
e. Commerce. Of prices: Free from sudden rise or fall; hence of the market, goods, shares, etc.
1889. Textile News, 29 March, 1/2. Subsequently the market became quieter and then declined, prices remaining steady.
1896. Daily News, 9 Dec., 10/7. Corn opened steady and unchanged.
1898. ‘H. S. Merriman,’ Roden’s Corner, vii. 68. The paper markets of the world began to settle down again, and steadier prices ruled.
1912. Times, 19 Dec., 16/5. Rubber shares were comparatively steady.
5. Naut. Of a ship: That moves without deviation (in her course); hence, applied to the helm and the steersman.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 18. He stands right a-head; out with all your sayles, a stydy man to the helme, sit close to keep her stydie.
1815. Shelley, Alastor, 333. The Poet sate Holding the steady helm.
6. Persistent, unwavering in resolution, attachment, or in a course of action; persistently devoted to a cause, resolution, etc.
1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., IV. v. I 1 b. We must be stiffe and steddie in resolue.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, Postscr. 621. Yet steady to my Principles, and not dispirited with my Afflictions, I have … overcome all difficulties.
1749. Smollett, Regicide, III. viii. A trusty counsellor and steady friend.
1797. Ht. Lee, Canterb. T., Frenchm. T. (1799), I. 274. Steady to honour and to feeling, there was yet one point on which his reason obstinately wandered.
1819. Scott, Leg. Montrose, Introd. He was a steady jacobite.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii. I. 182. It was only in retirement that any person could long keep the character either of a steady royalist or of a steady republican. Ibid., vii. II. 226. The influence of the Hampdens … kept him steady to the cause of the constitution.
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, cii. 2. A friend whose soul steady to honour abides.
b. of attributes, actions, etc.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., VI. § 407. His person was not less acceptable to those of steady and uncorrupted principles than to those of depraved inclinations.
1667. Milton, P. L., XII. 377. Now clear I understand what oft my steddiest thoughts have searcht in vain.
1698. Norris, Pract. Disc., IV. 51. The steddy View, or rather Possession they have of the other World gives them … a daily Triumph over this.
1710. Shaftesb., Soliloquy, II. ii. 81. The mean genius … endeavours by the best outward Gloss and dazling Shew, to turn the Eye from a direct and steddy Survey of his Piece.
1754. Sherlock, Disc. (1759), I. vii. 225. A constant and steddy Belief … in the Resurrection of the Dead.
1818. Hallam, Mid. Ages, viii. III. (1819), III. 235. Their own serious and steady attachment to the laws.
1891. Law Times, XCII. 96/1. A convict who gains by steady industry the maximum number of marks.
7. Not given to frivolity; staid.
1759. Franklin, Ess., Wks. 1840, III. 236. They were too wise and too steady to be amused.
1818. T. Moore, Diary, 26 Oct. Mem. (1853), II. 175. Which disconcerted the latter (who, strange to say, is a very grave, steady person) considerably.
8. Regular in habits; not given to dissipation or looseness in conduct.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Life in Wilds, vi. 79. I wondered … what made Robertson steal away into the wood so often, so steady a workman as he is.
1857. Smiles, Stephenson, iv. 24. At Callerton, Stephenson—habitually sober and steady—was a standing example of character to the other workmen.
1889. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Robbery under Arms, xlvii. He’d always been as steady as a rock.
9. Comb., as steady-looking adj.; parasynthetic, as steady-eyed, -footed, handed, -headed, -minded, -nerved adjs.
1901. Frances Campbell, Love, 307. *Steady-eyed, muscular men.
1611. Cotgr., s.v. Ferré, Ferré à glace,… *Steadie-footed, sure of foot. Ibid., s.v. Main, Avoir la main seure, to be *steadie handed.
1897. ‘Sarah Tytler,’ Lady Jean’s Son, xv. 258. *Steady-headed as the young man was.
1826. Mrs. Anne Grant, Mem. & Corr. (1844), III. 105. A plain, *steady-looking man who … is sober and regular.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xliii. Whatever David felt, he was too proud and too *steady-minded to show any unpleasant surprise.
1865. E. Burritt, Walk to Land’s End, 4. Even men called brave and *steady-nerved waited for company to make the journey.
b. Special combinations and collocations: steady-fast (see quot.); steady pin, a pin or each of several pins used to secure the relative positions of two adjoining surfaces or to prevent them from sliding upon each other; steady quaker, a kind of moth (see quot.); steady-rest Turning, = back rest, BACK- IV B.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Steady-Fast, a hawser carried out to some fixed object to keep a vessel steady in a tide-way, or in preparation for making sail from a fast.
1791. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 229. The Lewis Holes, each being filled with an extuberance of mortar, which, when hard, would in effect become a *steady pin.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 513. The piece … is screwed to the side of the plate … and made firm by small pins…; these pins are called steady-pins.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Steady-pin 1. (Founding.) One of the pins—generally three or four, in one flask—which, by fitting into holes in the lugs of another, enable the two parts to be restored to their original position after the pattern is drawn.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 247. Steady Pin,… a pin used to secure the relative positions of two pieces of metal.
1832. J. Rennie, Consp. Butterfl. & Moths, 58. The *Steady Quaker (Orthosia stabilis, Ochsenheimer).
1882. Ogilvie, *Steady-rest. Same as Back-rest.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl.
B. adv. In a steady manner, steadily. Chiefly Naut.: see A. 5.
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Misc. Poems, xlviii. 151. Steir studdie, mate.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 27. Steare study before the wind.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, II. vii. (1647), 52. Learning doth accomplish a Prince, and maketh him sway his sceptre the steadier.
1653. T. Brugis, Vade Mecum (ed. 2), 157. With … your little finger leaning upon the arme, to rest your whole hand the more steddier, gently thrust in your Lancet.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxxiii. Ay, but I have a notion that I could make you go steady about, and try the old course again.
1822. Cobbett’s Weekly Pol. Reg., 9 March, 634. The Yankee Captain … stood upon the deck, calling out … ‘Steady she goes, my boys!’
b. ellipt. Chiefly Naut. = ‘steer steady’: cf. STEADY v. 3. Also Sporting (see quot. 1895).
1620. J. Taylor (Water P.), Praise Hemp-seed (1623), 12. Cleere, cleere the boighrope, stedy, well steer’d, so.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. ii. 17. The Ship wears bravely, study, she is before it.
a. 1699. Temple, Mem. 1672–9, Wks. 1770, II. 462. The prince … said … ‘Will the king … never learn a word that I shall never forget since my last passage, when, in a great storm, the captain was all night crying out to the man at the helm, Steady, steady, steady?’
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), Steddy, the command given by the pilot, &c. to the helmsman … to steer the ship according to the line on which she advances at that instant.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xix. Steady—port it is—port.—Steer small, for your life, Easy. Steady now.
1895. Manson, Sporting Dict., Steady, the order to dogs at work to be cautious.
1900. G. Swift, Somerley, 87. Women are jolly ready to stop men when they’re going too far,… but, if a man says ‘steady’ to a girl, she thinks she’s been insulted.
c. Comb. as steady-goer; steady-going adj.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xviii. Always the vay vith these here old ’uns hows’ever, as is such *steady goers to look at.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Sutherl., I. 4. The *steady-going devotion which he paid to Miss Grace Lazenby.
1889. ‘J. S. Winter,’ Mrs. Bob, i. Those who do stay are the steady-going unambitious ones of the flock.
