steel, stely

[Eng. steel; -y.] 1. Literally: (1) Made of steel; consisting of steel. "Steel through opposing plates the magnet draws, And steely atoms calls from dust and straws." Crabbe: Parish Register . (2) Resembling the surface of polished steel. 2. Figuratively : Resembling steel in hardne ; hard, firm, stern, inflexible. "O tough and stely hertes, o herte more herd than flynte or other stone."-Fisher: Seuen Psalmes, Ps. 143, pt. ii.