To provide with or form into a steeple or steeple-like configuration.
A steeple is basically a spire, so the verb to steeple means to make into a spire-like shape. If you press the fingertips of your two hands together keeping your palms a few centimetres apart, it does indeed make the shape of a cone -- or a spire.
Maybe I find this more interesting that it is, but the process of creating verbs of nouns is one of the more noticeable progressions of language. To Google, for example, is not recognised as a real word by the powers that be -- i.e., people who write dictionaries -- but I bet you use it. Eventually, common usage will probably mean that there won't be a little red line under it in any program with a spellchecker (another verb from a noun).
Sort of ironically, the only term I know of for this process is verbing, or alternatively verbification, which is simply not as cool. The word verb is a noun and by making it into the word verbing you are actually verbing it. In order to verb verb you must first have a verb meaning to verb and, well, there you have a weird and wonderful word paradox.
No comments:
Post a Comment