steeple

views updated May 29 2018

stee·ple / ˈstēpəl/ • n. a church tower and spire. ∎ a spire on the top of a church tower or roof. ∎ archaic a tall tower of a church or other building.DERIVATIVES: stee·pled adj.

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

steeple

views updated May 17 2018

steeple steeplechase a horse race run on a racecourse having ditches and hedges as jumps, originally so called because a steeple marked the finishing point across country; the term is first recorded in the Sporting Magazine of April 1793 of a race of this kind run near Galloway.
steeple-house a building with a steeple, especially (as a derogatory term) in early Quaker usage; the English founder of the Society of Friends, George Fox (1624–91), uses the term in describing the effect on him of seeing the spires of Lichfield.

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ELIZABETH KNOWLES

steeple

views updated May 23 2018

steeple tall tower OE.; spire XV. OE. stēpel, WS. *stiepel, stȳpel, f. *staup- STEEP1; see -LE1.
Hence steeplechase XVIII; orig. race having a church steeple in view as goal.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology T. F. HOAD