Step v. i. [imp. & p. p. Stepped p. pr. & vb. n. Stepping.]
 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 To step 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.