Word.ws English Dictionary

steps on a rake

steps on a rake is the third-person singular simple present indicative of step on a rake.

Meaning of step on a rake

Verb

step on a rake (third-person singular simple present steps on a rake, present participle stepping on a rake, simple past and past participle stepped on a rake)

  1. (literally) To step on the tines of a garden rake, causing the handle of the rake to rise from the ground rapidly, striking the person walking in the face.
  2. (idiomatic) To fall victim to an avoidable (usually self-caused) hazard or error.
    • Our President [Franklin Roosevelt] stepped on a rake last week, and the handle hopped up and hit him in the eye. He then blamed the press for leaving the rake lying around.1939, Editor & Publisher, volume 72, page 3

Questions about steps on a rake

What is steps on a rake the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Steps on a rake is the third-person singular simple present indicative of step on a rake.

Words near steps on a rake in the dictionary

  1. steps it
  2. steps lively
  3. steps off
  4. steps on
  5. steps on a frog
  6. steps on a rake
  7. steps on it
  8. steps on someone's lines
  9. steps on someone's toes
  10. steps on the laughs
  11. steps out

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: steps on a rake (page history and authors); step on a rake (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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Cite this entry: “steps on a rake.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/steps_on_a_rake. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.