footstep
(ˈfʊtstɛp)
[See step.]
1. a. A step or tread of the foot; a foot-fall.
| 1535 Coverdale Ps. xvi[i]. 5 Ordre thou my goynges in thy pathes, that my fote steppes slippe not. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. xi, What marks were there of any other footsteps? 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian ix, Wherever I go I hear only the echoes of my own footsteps. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague i. iii, Methought I heard a footstep in the church. |
b. The distance traversed by the foot in stepping, taken as a measure of length or area.
| 1796 Stedman Surinam I. vii. 142 Not a foot-step of land could we find, where we might cook our salt provisions in safety. 1855 F. Locker Lond. Lyrics, Old Cradle vi, At most 'tis a footstep from cradle to coffin. |
2. a. The mark or print made by a foot.
| c 1220 Bestiary 7 Alle hise fet steppes After him he filleð. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 174/2 Foote steppe, of a mann only, peda. 1611 Bible Bel & Dr. 20, I see the footsteps of men, women and children. 1735 Somerville Chase iii. 229 Trembling he views His Footsteps in the sand. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xvi, 111, I marched without hesitation or anxiety in the footsteps of my guide. |
b. fig., as to follow or walk in a person's footsteps = to follow his example or guidance.
| 1549 Compl. Scot. xvii. 148 Ȝe ar obleist to follou the futsteppis of ȝour predecessours in vertu. 1668 Denham Prudence Poems 147 Clear-sighted Reason Wisdoms Judgment leads, And Sense, her Vassal, in her footsteps treads. 1878 J. P. Hopps Jesus x. 37 To call upon his sorrowing disciples to be prepared to follow in his footsteps. |
† 3. fig. A vestige or trace; a mark, token, or indication left by anything whether material or immaterial. Obs.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay v. 59 All these are traces, foot⁓steps, and images..of that high misterie. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. 2 As touching their cruelty, I find no footsteps in story. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 141 In the part of the Tooth cut off, there appeared the footsteps of a Nerve. 1662 J. Chandler Van Helmont's Oriat. 80 There is no foot-step, for the most part, of mooved Air to be perceived. 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. i. 3 Relations..accounted fabulous have bin after found to contain in them many foot-steps and reliques of something true. 1699 Bentley Phal. 211 There are plain and visible footsteps, that he has stole it. 1756 J. Warton Ess. Pope (1806) I. 21 Those who have examined the New Forest can discover no mark or footstep of any other place of habitation..than what at present remains. 1785 Paley Mor. Philos. (1818) II. 86 We find no footsteps of any distinction of days which [etc.]. |
† 4. A foot-path, footway. Obs.
| 1620 J. Wilkinson Court Leet 119 High-waies or foot⁓steps stopped up. |
5. a. A step or raised structure on which to set the foot in order to ascend or descend. † In Fortif. = foot-bank (see foot n. 35).
| 1549 Latimer 6th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 166 It is the fotesteppes of the ladder of heauen. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. x. 205 At the footestep of the Altar. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Foot-bank or Foot-step (in Fortif.). 1806 Wordsw. (1st line of Sonnet), Methought I saw the foot⁓steps of a throne. 1815 Jane Austen Emma I. 184 She crossed the low hedge, and tottering footstep which ended the narrow slippery path. |
† b. A treadle for working a machine (obs.). c. Printing (see quot. 1888). d. A bearing to sustain the foot of a vertical shaft or spindle.
| 1678 Phil. Trans. XII. 1007 The Footsteps or Treddles differ in nothing from those which are usually made use of. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc. II. 72 [Printing] The Foot Step is an Inch-Board about a Foot broad, and sixteen Inches long. 1855 Ogilvie Suppl., Footstep, In mech., the pillow in which the foot of an upright or vertical shaft works. 1888 Jacobi Printer's Voc., Footstep, the inclined footstool the pressman puts his foot on when pulling the bar over. |
6. attrib.: footstep bearing = sense 5 d.
| 1887 D. A. Low Introd. Machine Draw. 110 Plan and sectional elevation of a footstep bearing for an upright shaft. 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. 147 Footstep bearings are..made adjustable by placing the bearing in the centre of a ring casting. 1959 Chambers's Encycl. II. 175/2 A ‘footstep bearing’ is a thrust bearing at the bottom of a vertical shaft to support the revolving parts. |
Hence † ˈfootstepping vbl. n. = footstep 3.
| 1622 Cooke Pope Joan in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) IV. 56 You must bring better proof than this, that you find no foot-stepping of it in the answers made unto them. |