steely

Etymology

It is formed from English steel + -y.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The base noun is from Old English stȳle, earlier stǣli,^[2] from Proto-West Germanic *stahlī (“something made of steel”), an enlargement of *stahl, from Proto-Germanic *stahlą (“steel”).^[1] Etymonline records a Middle English form steli.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person or the heart: hard and cold as steel, unfeeling and unbending: 1508, in Fisher's treatise on the penitential psalms.^[2][7] Etymonline dates this figurative use to the mid-15th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense came first; the literal “made of steel” is recorded only from the 1580s in Etymonline;^[3] the OED's first example is from 1590, in Spenser's Faerie Queene.^[2] In the later 16th century the word was also used of a blow given with a sword or spear (1562–1647), of a liquid with an infusion of steel, as a medicine (1580), and of grain, especially barley, that is very hard and brittle (1580).^[2][4][7] From 1596 it described things that look like steel or share its colour or hardness,^[2][4] from 1621 it was used as an adverb; from 1648 it meant physically strong as steel.^[2][4] Johnson (1755) gave two senses, “made of steel” and “hard; firm”, the second with Sidney's “steely resistance against the sweet blows of love”.^[8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds specialist senses: wool that lacks its natural crimp, and dry wine in which acidity outweighs fruit.^[5] In Norfolk dialect steely-tempered meant quick-tempered.^[9]

Timeline

• 1508 – of a person: hard and cold as steel, inflexible.^[2][7] Etymonline dates this sense to the mid-15th century.^[3]
• 1562 – of a blow, given with a sword or spear (obsolete by 1647).^[2][4]
• 1580 – of grain, especially barley: very hard and brittle.^[2][7]
• 1580 – of a liquid, infused with steel (obsolete).^[2][7]
• 1590 – made of steel.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1580s.^[3]
• 1596 – resembling steel in appearance, colour or hardness.^[2][4]
• 1621 – adverb, in a steely manner.^[2][4]
• 1648 – physically strong as steel.^[2][7]
• 1839 – of iron, with the qualities of steel.^[2][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Like steel in hardness, coldness, sharpness or colour: a steely winter light.^[5][2][4]
2. Of a person or their manner, hard, cold and unyielding; resolute: She answered the charges with steely calm.^[5][2][4]
3. Made of steel.^[5][2][8]
4. Of grain, especially barley, very hard and brittle.^[2][4]
5. Of wool, lacking its natural crimp and elasticity.^[5]
6. Of wine, dry, with the acidity outweighing the fruit.^[5]
7. Of a blow, given with a sword or spear (obsolete, 1562–1647).^[2][4]

Adverb

1. In a steely manner; coldly and hard (rare).^[4][2]

Word family

• steeliness

Related words

• steelie
• steel

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)