steeple
[stee-puh l]
- an ornamental construction, usually ending in a spire, erected on a roof or tower of a church, public building, etc.
- a tower terminating in such a construction.
- (loosely) a spire.
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- to provide with or form into a steeple or steeplelike configuration.
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Origin of steeple
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for steeple
Contemporary Examples
Note to Wall Street tourists: If you need to pee, look for the steeple.
Historical Examples
But the steeple stands foremost, in our thoughts, as well as locally.
Sunday at Home (From "Twice Told Tales")Nathaniel Hawthorne
House of God, a building with a steeple and a mortgage on it.
The Devil's DictionaryAmbrose Bierce
But then it came in my head, 'How if the steeple itself should fall?'
The Works of Whittier, Volume VI (of VII)John Greenleaf Whittier
Toward the building with half a steeple Mr. Bangs started forthwith.
Galusha the MagnificentJoseph C. Lincoln
Come, take that parson's steeple hat and his cloak, and let us be going.
The Tavern KnightRafael Sabatini
steeple
- a tall ornamental tower that forms the superstructure of a church, temple, etc
- such a tower with the spire above it
- any spire or pointed structure
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Word Origin
Old English stēpel; see steep 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for steeple
n.
Old English stepel (Mercian), stiepel (West Saxon) "high tower" (related to steap "high, lofty"), from Proto-Germanic *staupilaz (see steep (adj.)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper