Stee"ple (?), n. [OE. stepel, AS. st�xc7;pel, stpel; 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 (Spiraea 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.
© Webster 1913.