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third-person singular simple present steepens, present participle steepening, simple past and past participle steepened
(transitive) To make steeper. quotations examples
With a rare and beautiful ease one can now ring up a boffin, as I did the other day, and say: "As a price for not opposing our Parliamentary Powers for a new marshalling yard, the Council at X demands that the bridge over X Lane shall have 16 ft. 6 in. headroom. This means steepening our gradient from 1 in 70 to 1 in 65 for half a mile on a 20-chain curve. What difference will this make to the loads of Type "2", "3" and "4" diesels please?". Back comes the answer.
1960 April, G. F. Fiennes, “Unpunctuality - the cause and the cure”, in Trains Illustrated, page 244
(intransitive) To become steeper. quotations examples
As the way steepened […] I could detect in the hollow of the hill some traces of the old path.
H. Miller
Immediately beyond Churn Lane the climb begins at 1 in 78, steepening to 1 in 66. Speed soon falls and a number of heavy hop-pickers' specials have come to grief here.
1960 March, H. P. White, “The Hawkhurst branch of the Southern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 170