steer

Definitions

General English

  • verb to make a

    vehicle

    go in

    a

    particular

    direction

Agriculture

  • noun a castrated

    male

    bovine over one year old.

Aviation

Cricket

  • verb to deflect the ball off the face of the bat so that it travels close to or along the ground, usually into the area behind square; the word suggests careful placing and minimal use of force
    Citation ‘From the opening ball of the match from McCague, a long, wide half-volley that Slater steered to the

    third man

    boundary, the Australians were able to defend their wickets secure in the knowledge that at least one hittable ball would come their way every over’     (Mike Selvey, Guardian 23 July 1993)

Food

  • A castrated male of the

    bovine

    species, 2 to 4 years old

Origin & History of “steer”

Steer ‘control direction’ (OE) and steer ‘young ox’ (OE) are

quite

unrelated. The latter comes

from

a prehistoric Germanic *(s)teuraz,

which

also

produced German and Dutch stier, Swedish tjur, and Danish tyr ‘bull’. It was descended from a base denoting ‘strength’ or ‘sturdiness’ (source also of Sanskrit somethingūra- ‘strong, thick’), and may be related to Latin taurus ‘bull’. Steer ‘control direction’ comes from a prehistoric Germanic *steurjan, source also of German steuern, Dutch stieren, Swedish styra, and Danish styre.

this

in turn was derived from the

noun

*steurō ‘steering’, which also lies

behind

English

stern and the

first

syllable

of starboard.
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