View synonyms for steeplechase

steeplechase

[ stee-puhl-cheys ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a horse race over a turf course furnished with artificial ditches, hedges, and other obstacles over which the horses must jump.
a point-to-point race.
a footrace run on a cross-country course or over a course having obstacles, such as ditches, hurdles, or the like, which the runners must clear.

, stee·ple·chased, stee·ple·chas·ing.

steeplechase

/ ˈstiːpəlˌtʃeɪs /

a horse race over a course equipped with obstacles to be jumped, esp artificial hedges, ditches, water jumps, etc
a track race, usually of 3000 metres, in which the runners have to leap hurdles, a water jump, etc
archaic.
1. a horse race across a stretch of open countryside including obstacles to be jumped
2. a rare word for point-to-point

First recorded in 1790–1800; steeple + chase ¹; so called because the course was kept by sighting a church steeple as the goal

C19: so called because it originally took place cross-country, with a church tower serving as a landmark to guide the riders

She is also a veteran steeplechase jockey who had to put weights in her jodhpurs to keep her mount on the horse.

The others fell into his wake, and the procession moved across country like a steeplechase.

After he had won—fairly won—the Yanyilla Steeplechase, should he go to my father and ask for the wife he had won?

If my Cossacks had not indulged in that steeplechase my journey might have had a tragic ending.

There are no sensational water-jumps even at steeplechase meetings, the colonial horse not being accustomed to water.

I gave him a fair start, then laid the hounds on and we had a five-mile point, going like a steeplechase all the way.

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