steek
/stiːk/
steek verb: to stitch (sew with a needle).
Verb
steek (third-person singular simple present steeks, present participle steeking, simple past and past participle steeked)
- To stitch (sew with a needle).
- To shut or close.
- To use a technique for knitting garments such as sweaters in the round without interruption for openings or sleeves until the end.
Noun
steek (plural steeks)
- A stitch.
- Ake Ogilvie told the tale the next day to Ma Cleghorn, Ma lying at rest in her bed, she'd gone to bed with a steek in her side and as lying fair wearied till Ake looked in.1934, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Grey Granite (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 565
- The bridge of extra stitches used in the steeking technique.
Forms of steek
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | steeks |
| present participle | steeking |
| past participle | steeked |
| past | steeked |
| alternative form | steik |
| Noun | |
| plural | steeks |
Origin of steek
From Scots steek, from Middle English steke (“to enclose”) and Middle Dutch steken (“to stitch”). Noun from Scots steek (“stitch”), from Middle Dutch steek (“stitch”). More at stick, stitch.
Phrases with steek
Questions about steek
- What does steek mean?
- Steek means to stitch (sew with a needle).
- What part of speech is steek?
- Steek can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce steek?
- Steek is pronounced /stiːk/.
- What is the past tense of steek?
- The past tense of steek is steeked.
Words near steek in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: steek (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-steek.wav.
Cite this entry: “steek.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/steek. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.