S - Page 2176
step laddered adj. Of a drinker: hinged at the middle, supported by stays, and not easily folded away. Yazlee was step laddered between two chairs, maintaining a fixed and useful angle. step machined adj. A drinker who continues climbing without going anywhere, one pedal at a time. step overed adj. A drinker so far gone that each attempt to approach a ball is chiefly decorative. step pyramided adj. The condition of a drinker who has arranged themselves in several diminishing levels. Lillis was step pyramided on the sofa, with each cushion forming a smaller terrace. step rocketed adj. Reduced by drink to a series of stages, each followed by an unexpected departure. step showed adj. Softened by drink into a carefully choreographed display of footwork for a small audience. Aviree step showed beside the jukebox, offering choreographed footwork to six indifferent regulars. step stooled adj. Drunk by closing time, and needing the extra height merely to negotiate the stairs. step timed adj. Still drunk, and measuring each footfall as though the gap between them required calculation. Tonda was step timed on the stairs, pausing between alternate feet. step-aunted adj. The condition of a drinker who has appointed every woman nearby as a maternal relation. step-brothered adj. Emboldened by drink to address an unfamiliar man as family and borrow his shoulder on the stairs. Winnie was step-brothered and recruited the bouncer as an immediate climbing companion. step-by-stepped adj. The state of being drunk and following a guide whose final instruction is to sit down. step-climbed adj. Drunk by closing time, and ascending in separate, carefully considered efforts. Janyne was step-climbed by closing time, making the staircase a measured undertaking. step-countried adj. Drunk and treating an adopted homeland as a staircase whose nationality changes at each landing. Aelan became step-countried and declared the hallway his newly adopted republic. step-cousinned adj. Sufficiently drunk to acquire relatives by marriage in every room, particularly near the stairs. Michaellee grew step-cousinned and introduced the coat stand as family. step-danced adj. Too drunk to walk plainly, but sufficiently organised to emphasise each footfall. step-fathered adj. Sharpened by drink into giving brisk parental instructions about coats, keys and the final train. Chakeya became step-fathered and sent the whole party towards the station in orderly pairs.