steeple
/ˈstiːp(ə)l
/noun
1A church tower and spire.In a few weeks the females will lay as many as five eggs each in nooks of old roofs, in church steeples or in ancient walls surrounding Muslim and Jewish holy sites in the Old City....
- Atop one of the lower hills, a lone building shaded by a grove of oaks stood watching over the rest; a white steeple protruding skyward from the shingled roof as if reaching for the heavens themselves.
- The one room building was lop-sided now, and a portion of the roof had collapsed in on itself, causing the steeple to lean and crumble.
1.1A spire on the top of a church tower or roof.They formed a long procession straggling on endlessly through the valley towards the distant roofs and church steeples of the Suburbs ahead....
- A little chimney jutted out of the back of the roof, beyond the steeple.
- He could see the Presbyterian Church's steeple over the low roofs of the office buildings and warehouses, and he could hear cars, so he knew where to go.
Synonyms
spire, church tower, tower, bell tower, belfry;
minaret;
Italian campanile
1.2 archaic A tall tower of a church or other building.
verb [with object]
Place (the fingers or hands) together so that they form an upward-pointing V-shape.Rick now sat forward, steepling his fingers together, and said quietly, ‘Laura, I don't know… isn't that a bit harsh?’...
- ‘I've been doing a quick inventory of my curses,’ he told me, steepling his fingers.
- ‘I think we should pick up where we left off at our last meeting,’ purred Bill Lee, steepling his fingers.
Derivatives
steepled
- Across the street was a church, a steepled stone building with broad concrete steps and a bright stained-glass window above the doors.
- It had a steepled roof with a weathervane at the top of the steeple and a brass bell tucked within the open wooden tower.
- The floor was made of marble, reflecting off the chandeliers that hung from the steepled roof made of glass.
Origin
Old English stēpel, of Germanic origin; related to steep1.