steeple

plural steeples · alternative obsolete steple

1. A tall tower, often on a church, normally topped with a spire.

   So, the woman and the child had gone by, and gone on, and five had sounded from the steeples.

   1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, “Little Dorrit’s Party”, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC, 1st book (Poverty), pages 126–127

   1 more example

   Above the session-room of the Council is the steeple, and in the steeple is the belfry, where exists, and has existed time out of mind, the pride and wonder of the village—the great clock of the borough of Vondervotteimittiss.

   1839, Edgar Allan Poe, The Devil in the Belfry

2. A spire.
3. historicalA high headdress of the 14th century.

present singular third person steeples · participle present steepling · participle past steepled · past steepled · alternative obsolete steple

1. transitiveTo form something into the shape of a steeple.

   He steepled his fingers as he considered the question.

   2 more examples

   Mr. Ziegler is now angled forward with his elbows on his knees and his fingers steepled just under his nose.

   2005, David Foster Wallace, Consider the Lobster and Other Essays, New York: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 341

   Mr Hatfield steepled his fingers and gazed at her fixedly and took a long contemplative breath.

   1992, James Herriot, Every Living Thing, →ISBN

1. A hamlet in Steeple with Tyneham parish, Dorset, England, previously in Purbeck district (OS grid ref SY9181).
2. A village and civil parish in Maldon district, Essex, England (OS grid ref TL9303).