Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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.