[f. STEEP v.2 + -ING2.]

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  † 1.  That slopes precipitously, steep. Obs.

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a. 1470.  Tiptoft, Cæsar, v. (1530), 8. Theyr horses ronne in placys slope steepyng.

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1587.  Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1018/2. The citie … is set vpon a little hill, and lieth verie steeping towards two of the gates.

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  2.  Naut. Of the surface of the sea: Sloping to the horizon.

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1890.  W. Clark Russell, Ocean Trag., II. xv. 45. Never in all my time did so profound a sense of desolation and loneliness possess me as I stood bringing my eyes from the huge steeping plain of the sea [etc.].

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