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steeple |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Steeple \Stee"ple\, n. [OE. stepel, AS st[=e]pel, st?pel; akin to E. steep, a.] (Arch.) A spire; also the tower and spire taken together; the whole of a structure if the roof is of spire form See {Spire}. ``A weathercock on a steeple.'' --Shak. {Rood steeple}. See {Rood tower}, under {Rood}. {Steeple bush} (Bot.), a low shrub ({Spir[ae]a tomentosa}) having dense panicles of minute rose-colored flowers; hardhack. {Steeple chase}, 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 {Steeple chaser}, one who rides in a steeple chase; also a horse trained to run in a steeple chase. {Steeple engine}, a vertical back-acting steam engine having the cylinder beneath the crosshead. {Steeple house}, a church. [Obs.] --Jer. Taylor. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: steeple n : a tall tower that forms the superstructure of a building (usually a church or temple) and that tapers to a point at the top [syn: {spire}]
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