Step \Step\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Stepped; p. pr. & vb. n. Stepping.]

[AS. st[ae]ppan; akin to OFries. steppa, D. stappen to step, stap a step, OHG. stepfen to step, G. stapfe a footstep, OHG. stapfo, G. stufe a step to step on; cf. Gr. ? to shake about, handle roughly, stamp (?). Cf. Stamp, n. & a.]

1. To move the foot in walking; to advance or recede by raising and moving one of the feet to another resting place, or by moving both feet in succession.

2. To walk; to go on foot; esp., to walk a little distance; as, to step to one of the neighbors.

3. To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely.

Home the swain retreats, His flock before him stepping to the fold. --Thomson.

4. Fig.: To move mentally; to go in imagination.

They are stepping almost three thousand years back into the remotest antiquity. --Pope.

To step aside, to walk a little distance from the rest; to retire from company.

To step forth, to move or come forth.

To step in or into.
   (a) To walk or advance into a place or state, or to advance suddenly in.

Whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. --John v. 4.
   (b) To enter for a short time; as, I just stepped into the house.
   (c) To obtain possession without trouble; to enter upon easily or suddenly; as, to step into an estate.

To step out.
   (a) (Mil.) To increase the length, but not the rapidity, of the step, extending it to thirty-tree inches.
   (b) To go out for a short distance or a short time.

To step short (Mil.), to diminish the length or rapidity of the step according to the established rules.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)