| English Dictionary |
STEELY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does steely mean?
• STEELY (adjective)
The adjective STEELY has 2 senses:
1. resembling steel as in hardness
2. resembling steel in hardness
Familiarity information: STEELY used as an adjective is rare.
Dictionary entry details
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: steeliest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Resembling steel as in hardness
Context example:
steely nerves like those of a steeplejack
Similar:
hard (dispassionate)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Resembling steel in hardness
Similar:
hard (resisting weight or pressure)
Derivation:
steel (an alloy of iron with small amounts of carbon; widely used in construction; mechanical properties can be varied over a wide range)
Context examples
Wolf Larsen was watching him, waiting for him, the steely glitter in his eyes; but Smoke closed his mouth again without having said anything.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
He transfixed me with two sharp, steely eyes.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I knew the steely ire I had whetted.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
I looked, and had an acute pleasure in looking,—a precious yet poignant pleasure; pure gold, with a steely point of agony: a pleasure like what the thirst-perishing man might feel who knows the well to which he has crept is poisoned, yet stoops and drinks divine draughts nevertheless.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
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