Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A tower rising above the roof of a building, especially as a church or temple, and usually surmounted by a spire.
- noun A spire.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To rise above other buildings or objects as a steeple or a spire.
- noun A typically lofty structure attached to a church, town-house, or other public edifice, and generally intended to contain the bells of such edifice.
- noun A lofty head-dress worn by women in the fourteenth century. See
hennin . - noun A pyramidal pile or stack of fish set to dry. Also called
pack . See the quotation under pack, 10 .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Arch.) A spire; also, the tower and spire taken together; the whole of a structure if the roof is of spire form. See
spire . - noun See Rood tower, under
Rood . - noun (Bot.) a low shrub (
Spiræa tomentosa ) having dense panicles of minute rose-colored flowers; hardhack. - noun a race across country between a number of horsemen, to see which can first reach some distant object, as a church steeple; hence, a race over a prescribed course obstructed by such obstacles as one meets in riding across country, as hedges, walls, etc.
- noun one who rides in a steeple chase; also, a horse trained to run in a steeple chase.
- noun a vertical back-acting steam engine having the cylinder beneath the crosshead.
- noun [Obs.] a church.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A tall
tower , often on achurch , normally topped with aspire . - noun A
spire . - verb transitive To form something into the shape of a steeple.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a tall tower that forms the superstructure of a building (usually a church or temple) and that tapers to a point at the top
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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With quaint anglers in steeple-crowned hats, setting forth to fish, or breakfasting under a tree (untrammelled by the formalities of a nursery meal), or bringing their spoils to a wayside inn with a painted fish upon the sign-board, and a hostess in a high hat and a stiff-bustled dress at the door.
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Our steeple is a symbol, one that makes me think of other such symbols, such as the New England favorite, the lighthouse.
Guest Sermon Adam Tierney-Eliot 2005
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A steeple is a tall ornamental structure on church or cathedral.
Standing tall Fr Timothy Matkin 2005
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Our steeple is a prominent symbol, and, it must be said, how well we care for it speaks volumes about who we are.
Archive 2005-10-01 Adam Tierney-Eliot 2005
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A steeple is a tall ornamental structure on church or cathedral.
Archive 2005-07-01 Fr Timothy Matkin 2005
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Our steeple is a symbol, one that makes me think of other such symbols, such as the New England favorite, the lighthouse.
Archive 2005-10-01 Adam Tierney-Eliot 2005
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Our steeple is a prominent symbol, and, it must be said, how well we care for it speaks volumes about who we are.
Guest Sermon Adam Tierney-Eliot 2005
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In the top of the steeple is the belfry with the fire bell inside.
St. Vincent Firehall Trish Short Lewis 2005
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'Company of Christ's faithful people,' and that the mere outward building where they were gathered should only be called a steeple-house if it had a steeple, or a meeting-house if it had none.
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On the top of the steeple was a great gilded cross, considerably larger than a man.
reesetee commented on the word steeple
Also a hat that looks like this.
November 14, 2007
hernesheir commented on the word steeple
You cannot spell Yarmouth-steeple right. - an old provincial saying from Norfolk England recorded by Grose, in his 1787 A Provincial Glossary. Yarmouth's church spire was awry, or crooked. The old proverb is a play on both the word spell and the word right.
May 3, 2011