Steeple
steeple (?), n. (OE. stepel, AS.stepel, 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 (Spiraa 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.
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