steep 2 
(stēp)
(stēp)v. steeped, steep·ing, steeps
v.tr.
1. To immerse in liquid for a period of time, as to cleanse, treat, or extract a given property from: steeped the cloth in red dye; steeped the tea bag in boiling water.
2. To involve or preoccupy thoroughly; immerse: As a child, she steeped herself in adventure stories.
3. To make thoroughly wet; saturate.
v.intr.
To undergo a soaking in liquid: Let the tea steep for five minutes.
n.
1.
a. The act or process of steeping.
b. The state of being steeped.
2. A liquid, bath, or solution in which something is steeped.
[Middle English stepen, perhaps from Old English *stīepan; akin to Swedish stöpa and Danish støbe, to soak (barley for malting), cast (metal), from Germanic *staupjan, probably denominative verb from *staupan, a kind of vessel for liquids (also the source of Old Norse staup, cup; see STOUP).]
steeper n.