Etymology From Middle English stepel, from Old English stīpel, stȳpel, stīepel (“tower, steeple”), from Proto-West Germanic *staupil, from Proto-Germanic *staupilaz (“that which is steep, tower, steeple”), equivalent to steep + -le. Cognate with Old Norse stǫpull (“tower, steeple”).
1
A tall tower, often on a church, normally topped with a spire.
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:
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:
Etymology From Middle English stepel, from Old English stīpel, stȳpel, stīepel (“tower, steeple”), from Proto-West Germanic *staupil, from Proto-Germanic *staupilaz (“that which is steep, tower, steeple”), equivalent to steep + -le. Cognate with Old Norse stǫpull (“tower, steeple”).
1
To form something into the shape of a steeple.
He steepled his fingers as he considered the question.
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:
1 more example
Mr Hatfield steepled his fingers and gazed at her fixedly and took a long contemplative breath.1992, James Herriot, Every Living Thing, →ISBN: