|
In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
|
STEEPLE, n. A turret of a church, ending in a point; a spire. It differs from a tower, which usually ends in a square form, thought the name is sometimes given to a tower. The bell of a church is usually hung in the steeple.
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 (Spiræa 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. | ||||||||