1792 G. Cartwright Jrnl. I. Gloss. p. xv Steady in a River, a part where the bed widens, inclining to a pond, and there is no perceptible stream.

1842 J. B. Jukes Excurs. Newfoundland II. 241 I understood from a salmon-fisher, the only person inhabiting the neighbourhood, that a succession of ‘steadies’, with occasional rapids, may be met with for twelve miles farther.

1907 J. G. Millais Newfoundland xi. 206 At noon we entered a beautiful ‘steady’.

1969 H. Horwood Newfoundland i. 4 The canoe..bounced joyously past the white water into the still and foam~flecked steady below.

1897 F. Moss Amer. Metropolis III. ix. 172 Her ‘steady’ is Jim Clarke.

1900 G. Ade More Fables in Slang (1902) 179 Lutie then selected for her Steady a Young Man with Hair who played the 'Cello.

1907 N. Munro Daft Days xx She's got heaps of beaux, but he's her steady.

1927 Vanity Fair Nov. 132/3 His steady has quit him for another or he is lonesome for her.

1929 M. de la Roche Whiteoaks vii She's got her steady with her.

1950 ‘N. Shute’ Town like Alice 313 I suppose he's turning into Rose's steady.

1960 W. H. Auden Homage to Clio 56 You won't find a steady in that museum Unless you prefer Tea with a shapeless angel to bedtime With a lovely monster.

1978 Daily Mirror 12 Jan. 3/4 Meanwhile Rod was flying off to Rio—with a farewell kiss for his latest ‘steady’, 23-year-old model Bebe Bluell.

1899 M. Cobbett Bottled Holidays viii. 141 Two officials fulfilled the awkward duties of being rounding posts [in a skating match], the competitors generally catching hold of them for a steady as they made the turns.

1885 J. G. Horner Pattern Making 106 Make a steady, shaped roughly to fit the bed of the lathe and to take the diameter of the pipe.

1911 Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 26/1 [Lathes.] Of devices for this purpose..some are fixed,..and others are bolted to the carriage of the slide-rest and move along with it—travelling steadies.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 325/2 Stedye stedfast, ferme.

1540 J. Palsgrave in tr. G. Gnapheus Comedye of Acolastus i. i. sig. Civ Wherof I myght promysse to my selfe an euerlastyng and very stedy ioye [L. gaudium perpetuum & bene stabile].

1594 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. II. 596 For if we would moue one of our feete, the other must abide steddie and firme.

1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. vii. 234 The dull Earths prop-lesse massie Ball Stands steddie still.

a1677 I. Barrow Serm. Several Occasions (1678) 12 The fool, building his choice..not upon the steddy warrant of good reason.

1680 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises I. x. 175 Any Substance..pitcht steddy upon two points..and moved about on that Axis... And an Edg-Tool set steddy to that part.

a1683 A. Sidney Disc. Govt. (1704) iii. §30. 362 This being built upon the steddy Foundation of Law, History, and Reason, is not to be remov'd.

c1571 E. Campion Two Bks. Hist. Ireland (1963) i. xi. 40 From this time forward the amytie waxed steadie.

1627 M. Drayton Battaile Agincourt 2 When presently a Parliament is calld To sett things steddy.

1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. xxviii. 165 By what has been said, we may observe how much Names, as supposed steady signs of Things..are the occasion of [printed if] denominating Ideas distinct or confused.

1714 T. Hearne Ductor Historicus (ed. 3) I. i. i. 13 It was a steady Rule, that the Moon wherein the Vernal Equinox happens should be the Month Nisan.

1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian viii, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. I. 226 It became at length understood..that their union should be deferred no longer than until Butler should obtain some steady means of support.

1574 T. Hill Profitable Arte of Gardening (rev. ed.) i. 48 If any washeth the handes with snowe, it doth then make them steddie.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iv. vii. 92 Cade. Nay, he noddes at vs, as who should say, Ile be euen with you. Ile see if his head will stand steddier on a pole, or no. View more context for this quotation

1627 R. Sanderson Ten Serm. 404 Othersome..like a young vnbroken thing that hath mettall..would be..guided with a steddy & skilfull hand.

1628 R. Sanderson Two Serm. Paules-Crosse i. 22 The colours..are yet so thin: that a steddy eye, not bleered by preiudice, may discerne the Lye through them.

1770 P. Luckombe Conc. Hist. Printing 319 Justifiers of wood..to wedge it tight and steddy in its place.

?a1786 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) I. 198 But whilst with both hands I can hold the glass steady, Here's to thee, My Hero, My Sodger laddie!

?1850 Butler, Wine-dealer, & Private Brewer 9 The stands [for casks] should be fixed perfectly steady.

1865 J. B. Harwood Lady Flavia xiv The hand that held the candle was as steady as a rock.

1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 471 The bottom of the lamp being loaded, it is perfectly steady.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. xi. sig. L The knight gan fayrely couch his steady speare.

1711 Ld. Shaftesbury Characteristicks III. Misc. i. i. 37 So this high and noble affection..requires a steddy rein and strict hand over it.

1777 R. Potter tr. Æschylus Agamemnon in tr. Æschylus Tragedies 281 With steddy step I trace foul deeds that smell above the earth.

1845 J. Coulter Adventures Pacific xiii. 182 I determined to do justice to the gun, took a steady aim, and broke the pearl shell to pieces.

1602 J. Marston Hist. Antonio & Mellida i. sig. B4^v Giue me a husband..Of steddie iudgement, quicke and nimble sense.

1642 T. Fuller Holy State iv. v. 264 They need to have steddy heads who can dive into these gulfs of policy.

a1699 T. Comber Hist. Liturgies in Compan. Temple (1702) II. 19 No Man can pray with a truly devout and steddy Mind, without a known Form.

a1710 G. Bull Serm. (1713) I. v. 210 Few Men have such steddy Heads as to be able to stand upon the Spires and Pinnacles of Glory without Giddiness.

a1822 P. B. Shelley Masque of Anarchy (1832) lxxxv. 44 With folded arms and steady eyes.

1670 J. Milton Hist. Brit. ii. 37 Whereby at length all the Foot..with a more steddy charge put the Britans to flight.

1759 D. Garrick Song Hearts of Oak refrain, Steady, boys, steady! We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again.

1769 W. Robertson Hist. Charles V III. vii. 32 The steddy and disciplined valour of the Spanish infantry.

1821 Ld. Byron Sardanapalus iii. i. 86 Our troops were steady.

1823 W. Scott Quentin Durward III. vii. 195 The knaves are numerous and steady—Can they not hold out their town against him?

1837 C. J. Lever Harry Lorrequer i They're coming up: steady, boys; steady now.

1878 N. Amer. Rev. 126 252 But they [soldiers] were as steady as clocks and chirpy as crickets.

1735 W. Somervile Chace iv. 125 With these consort The Stanch, and steddy Sages of thy Pack.

1826 J. Cook Fox-hunting 107 And to do him [the hound] justice, he was a good finder, steady from hare.

1835 G. Stephen Adventures in Search of Horse ix. 129 They [mares] may be temperate and steady for months,..and yet when the season arrives, will kick your chaise to pieces.

1852 R. Burn Naval & Mil. Techn. Dict. French Lang. (ed. 2) ii. 257 Horse steady to fire, cheval fait, dressé, sage au feu.

1886 J. Ruskin Præterita I. vi. 182 As a rule, there were four steady horses and a good driver, rarely drunk.

1548 T. Cooper Bibliotheca Eliotæ (rev. ed.) at Pressus Presso gradu incedere, to go a rounde and stedy pase.

1644 J. Milton Of Educ. 6 In which methodicall course..they must proceed by the steddy pace of learning onward.

1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1766 I. 274 Johnson: Dryden's horses are either galloping or stumbling: Pope's go at a steady even trot.

1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna ii. xii. 38 My spirit onward past Beneath truth's steady beams upon its tumult cast.

1836 F. Marryat Mr. Midshipman Easy II. vii. 195 A steady pull, my lads, and not too much exertion.

1855 Poultry Chron. 3 431 There was a steady trade in all descriptions of barley.

1873 J. C. Maxwell Treat. Electr. & Magn. (1881) I. 327 The most convenient method of producing a steady current is by means of the Voltaic Battery.

1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People vi. §5. 320 The steady rise in the price of wool was..giving a fresh impulse to the agrarian changes.

1877 E. J. Routh Stabil. Given State of Motion 2 We may therefore define a steady motion to be such that the same change of motion follows from the same initial disturbance at whatever instant the disturbance is communicated to the system.

1882 G. M. Minchin Uniplanar Kinematics 140 If..all the particles..pass through it with the same velocities and accelerations (both in magnitude and in direction), the record of the motion at P becomes constant, and there is said to be steady motion at P.

1612 R. Coverte True Rep. Englishman 7 From the 22. day..wee could haue no steedy gale of wind to carry vs forward, vntill the 25. day.

1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World vii. 247 Whilst you lie in this road, it is impossible that you should have the wind steady in any quarter.

1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Steady-Gale, a fresh breeze pretty uniform in force and direction.

1694 J. Evelyn Diary (1955) V. 186 Never more glorious & steady Summer weather.

1806 G. Pinckard Notes W. Indies III. xiv. 176 This climate is perhaps one of the most steady in the world, the range of the thermometer..being only from 11 to 15 degrees.

1869 J. Phillips Vesuvius iii. 94 The barometer during all the eruption was steady.

1857 A. Mathews Tea-table Talk II. 343 Ceylon coffee, heretofore steady and pressing for immediate sale, is now inactive.

1889 Textile News 29 Mar. 1/2 Subsequently the market became quieter and then declined, prices remaining steady.

1896 Daily News 9 Dec. 10/7 Corn opened steady and unchanged.

1898 ‘H. S. Merriman’ Roden's Corner vii. 68 The paper markets of the world began to settle down again, and steadier prices ruled.

1912 Times 19 Dec. 16/5 Rubber shares were comparatively steady.

1826 S. Maunder in R. Dagley Death's Doings 54 A steady Player, careful of his fame, May have a good long Innings.

1833 New Sporting Mag. 5 (Cricketers' Reg.) 13 This style [of bowling] Pilch met by steady play.

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. viii. 398 To the suggestions that Winter is the best bat left, Tom only replies, ‘Arthur is the steadiest, and Johnson will make the runs if the wicket is only kept up.’

1890 James Lillywhite's Cricketers' Ann. ii. iv. 143 W. G. Turnbull, a steady bat, but lacking power; should hit more at loose balls.

1924 H. de Sélincourt Cricket Match iv. 104 As a matter of sad fact there was no steady and reliable batsman upon the side.

1924 H. de Sélincourt Cricket Match v. 159 He felt a batsman, pure and simple; and decided that he was..in for a good, steady display of batting.

1602 J. Marston Antonios Reuenge iv. v. sig. I^v We must be stiffe and steddie in resolue.

1697 J. Dryden Postscr. to Rdr. in tr. Virgil Wks. 621 Yet steady to my Principles, and not dispirited with my Afflictions, I have..overcome all difficulties.

1749 T. Smollett Regicide iii. viii. 43 A trusty Counsellor and steady Friend.

1797 H. Lee Canterbury Tales I. 274 Steady to honour and to feeling, there was yet one point on which his reason obstinately wandered.

1819 W. Scott Legend of Montrose Introd., in Tales of my Landlord 3rd Ser. III. 143 He was a steady jacobite.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. ii. 182 It was only in retirement that any person could long keep the character either of a steady royalist or of a steady republican.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vii. 226 The influence of the Hampdens..kept him steady to the cause of the constitution.

1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems cii. 2 A friend whose soul steady to honour abides.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xii. 377 Now clear I understand What oft my steddiest thoughts have searcht in vain. View more context for this quotation

1698 J. Norris Pract. Disc. Divine Subj. IV. 51 The steddy View, or rather Possession they have of the other World gives them an easy Victory, and a daily Triumph over this.

1703 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion II. vi. 161 His Person was not less acceptable to those of steddy and uncorrupted Principles, than to those of deprav'd inclinations.

1710 Ld. Shaftesbury Soliloquy 81 The mean genius..endeavours by the best outward Gloss and dazling Shew, to turn the Eye from a direct and steddy Survey of his Piece.

1754 Bp. T. Sherlock Disc. (1759) I. vii. 225 A constant and steddy Belief..in the Resurrection of the Dead.

1818 H. Hallam View Europe Middle Ages II. viii. 368 Their own serious and steady attachment to the laws.

1891 Law Times 92 96/1 A convict who gains by steady industry the maximum number of marks.

1887 Lantern (New Orleans) 23 July 2/2 I expect my steady company at the house this evening.

1922 S. Benson Poor Man v. 127 She had just mislaid her last steady beau, so she was at the moment a little susceptible.

1932 J. Dos Passos 1919 43 Della let Joe kiss her when they said good night and he began kinder planning that she'd be his steady girl.

1975 D. Lodge Changing Places iii. 126 She's become Charles Boon's steady girl friend.

1977 Rolling Stone 5 May 47/4 He has no steady girl.

1901 F. Campbell Love 307 Steady-eyed, muscular men.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues at Ferré Ferré à glace,..Steadie~footed, sure of foot.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues at Main Avoir la main seure, to be steadie handed.

1897 ‘S. Tytler’ Lady Jean's Son xv. 258 Steady-headed as the young man was.

1826 A. Grant Let. 22 June in Mem. & Corr. (1844) III. 105 A plain, steady-looking man who..is sober and regular.

1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian vi, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. IV. 115 Whatever David felt, he was too proud and too steady-minded to show any unpleasant surprise.

1865 E. Burritt Walk to Land's End 4 Even men called brave and steady-nerved waited for company to make the journey.

1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Steady-Fast, a hawser carried out to some fixed object to keep a vessel steady in a tide-way, or in preparation for making sail from a fast.

1791 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse §229 The Lewis Holes, each being filled with an extuberance of mortar, which, when hard, would in effect become a steady pin.

1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 513 The piece..is screwed to the side of the plate..and made firm by small pins..; these pins are called steady-pins.

1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Steady-pin i. (Founding.) One of the pins—generally three or four, in one flask—which, by fitting into holes in the lugs of another, enable the two parts to be restored to their original position after the pattern is drawn.

1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (new ed.) 247 Steady Pin, a pin used to secure the relative positions of two pieces of metal.

1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 58 The Steady Quaker (Orthosia stabilis, Ochsenheimer).

1882 Ogilvie's Imperial Dict. (new ed.) Steady-rest. Same as Back-rest.

1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Suppl.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 734/1 I stedye, I sattell, or set faste a thing, je me arreste.

?1541 R. Copland Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens ii. sig. Lj And vnder them is the bone of the hele, of the whiche all the fote is stedyed.

1745 P. Thomas True Jrnl. Voy. South-Seas 156 They..carried out a Cable and Anchor to steddy the Ship.

1791 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse §226 These stones being fixed..by a pair of wedges on each side.., and still further steadied by joint wedges at the head of the dovetails.

1828 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. (at cited word) Steddy my hand.

1850 New Monthly Mag. Aug. 420 He..brought him again to the surface, turning him on his back..and steadying the floating body with one hand.

1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 26 The chronic drunkard, who takes a glass of spirits to ‘steady the hand’.

1901 T. J. Alldridge Sherbro xx. 202 So strained do one's muscles become that one's legs shake violently, and it is impossible to steady them.

1849 J. A. Froude Nemesis of Faith 163 If he could only have been permitted some few months or years of further silent communing with himself, the reeling rocking body might have steadied into a more constant motion.

1876 G. M. Hopkins Wreck of Deutschland iv, in Poems (1967) 52 I steady as a water in a well, to a poise, to a pane.

1910 Encycl. Brit. III. 271/1 The shot may be unsteady for some distance after leaving the muzzle, afterwards steadying down, like a spinning-top.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 734/1 I love nat this waverynge mynde of yours, I wolde have you stedye your mynde upon somwhat.

1866 R. W. Dale Disc. Special Occasions i. 3 It is hard to steady our thoughts.

1901 ‘Linesman’ Words by Eyewitness viii. 169 The Wakkerstroom commando..stayed the demoralised..men,..and a formidable force was soon steadied on the already prepared position.

1901 Westm. Gaz. 4 Jan. 4/3 The eighteenth century was well advanced before hounds were finally steadied from deer or hare and trained to hunt fox.

1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. ix. 37 Steady, that is, to keepe her right vpon that point you steare by.

1858 Mercantile Marine Mag. 5 82 The Corsair..put her helm to port, and then steadied.

1875 F. T. Buckland Log-bk. Fisherman 348 The bow of the boat well steadied towards the advancing wave.

1798 S. T. Coleridge Anc. Marinere iii, in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 16 She doth not tack from side to side—..Withouten wind, withouten tide She steddies with upright keel.

1874 F. G. D. Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. x. 310 Steady the helm.