chapter

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: chap=ter

CIDE DICTIONARY

chapter, n. [OF. chapitre, F. chapitre, fr. L. capitulum, dim. of caput head, the chief person or thing, the principal division of a writing, chapter. See Chief, and cf, Chapiter.].

•  A division of a book or treatise; as, Genesis has fifty chapters.  [1913 Webster]
•  An assembly of monks, or of the prebends and other clergymen connected with a cathedral, conventual, or collegiate church, or of a diocese, usually presided over by the dean.  [1913 Webster]
•  An organized branch of some society or fraternity as of the Freemasons.  Robertson.  [1913 Webster]
•  A meeting of certain organized societies or orders.  [1913 Webster]
•  A chapter house.  Burrill.  [1913 Webster]
•  A decretal epistle.  Ayliffe.  [1913 Webster]
•  A location or compartment.  [1913 Webster]

  "In his bosom! In what chapter of his bosom?"  [1913 Webster]

Chapter head, or Chapter heading, that which stands at the head of a chapter, as a title. -- Chapter house, a house or room where a chapter meets, esp. a cathedral chapter. -- The chapter of accidents, chance. Marryat.

chapter, v. t. 

•  To divide into chapters, as a book.  Fuller.  [1913 Webster]
•  To correct; to bring to book, i. e., to demand chapter and verse.  Dryden.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

chapter, n.
1 a main division of a book.
2 a period of time (in a person's life, a nation's history, etc.).
3 a series or sequence (a chapter of misfortunes).
4 a the canons of a cathedral or other religious community or knightly order. b a meeting of these.
5 an Act of Parliament numbered as part of a session's proceedings.
6 US a local branch of a society.

Idiom

chapter and verse an exact reference or authority. chapter house
1 a building used for the meetings of a chapter.
2 US the place where a college fraternity or sorority meets.

Etymology

ME f. OF chapitre f. L capitulum dimin. of caput -itis head

THESAURUS

chapter

Council of Nicaea, Council of Trent, Lateran Council, Vatican Council, affiliate, arm, article, back matter, basis, book, branch, branch office, burden, case, classis, clause, column, concern, conciliarism, conclave, conference, congregation, consistory, convention, convocation, diocesan conference, division, ecclesiastical council, ecumenical council, essence, fascicle, focus of attention, focus of interest, folio, front matter, gathering, gist, head, heading, installment, issue, living issue, livraison, local, lodge, main point, matter, matter in hand, meat, motif, motive, number, offshoot, organ, page, paragraph, parochial church council, parochial council, part, passage, phrase, plenary council, point, point at issue, point in question, post, presbytery, problem, question, rubric, section, sentence, serial, session, sheet, signature, subject, subject matter, subject of thought, substance, synod, text, theme, topic, verse, vestry, volume, wing

ROGET THESAURUS

chapter

Book

N booklet, writing, work, volume, tome, opuscule, tract, tractate, livret, brochure, libretto, handbook, codex, manual, pamphlet, enchiridion, circular, publication, chap book, part, issue, number livraison, album, portfolio, periodical, serial, magazine, ephemeris, annual, journal, paper, bill, sheet, broadsheet, leaf, leaflet, fly leaf, page, quire, ream, chapter, section, head, article, paragraph, passage, clause, endpapers, frontispiece, cover, binding, folio, quarto, octavo, duodecimo, sextodecimo, octodecimo, encyclopedia, encompilation, library, bibliotheca, press, definitive work, treatise, comprehensive treatise (dissertation), writer, author, litterateur, essayist, journalism, pen, scribbler, the scribbling race, literary hack, Grub-street writer, writer for the press, gentleman of the press, representative of the press, adjective jerker, diaskeaust, ghost, hack writer, ink slinger, publicist, reporter, penny a liner, editor, subeditor, playwright, poet, bookseller, publisher, bibliopole, bibliopolist, librarian, bookstore, bookshop, bookseller's shop, knowledge of books, bibliography, book learning, among the giant fossils of my past, craignez tout d'un auteur en courroux, for authors nobler palms remain, I lived to write and wrote to live, look in thy heart and write, there is no Past so long as Books shall live, the public mind is the creation of the Master-Writ, volumes that I prize above my dukedom.

Part

N part, portion, dose, item, particular, aught, any, division, ward, subdivision, section, chapter, clause, count, paragraph, verse, article, passage, sector, segment, fraction, fragment, cantle, frustum, detachment, parcel, piece, lump, bit cut, cutting, chip, chunk, collop, slice, scale, lamina, small part, morsel, particle, installment, dividend, share, debris, odds and ends, oddments, detritus, excerpta, member, limb, lobe, lobule, arm, wing, scion, branch, bough, joint, link, offshoot, ramification, twig, bush, spray, sprig, runner, leaf, leaflet, stump, component part, sarmentum, compartment, department, county, fractional, fragmentary, sectional, aliquot, divided, in compartments, multifid, disconnected, partial, partly, in part, partially, piecemeal, part by part, by by installments, by snatches, by inches, by driblets, bit by bit, inch by inch, foot by foot, drop by drop, in detail, in lots.

Council

N council, committee, subcommittee, comitia, court, chamber, cabinet, board, bench, staff, senate, senatus, parliament, chamber of deputies, directory, reichsrath, rigsdag, cortes, storthing, witenagemote, junta, divan, musnud, sanhedrim, classis, Amphictyonic council, duma, house of representatives, legislative assembly, legislative council, riksdag, volksraad, witan, caput, consistory, chapter, syndicate, court of appeal, board of control, board of works, vestry, county council, local board, audience chamber, council chamber, state chamber, cabinet council, privy council, cockpit, convocation, synod, congress, convention, diet, states-general, assembly, caucus, conclave, clique, conventicle, meeting, sitting, seance, conference, convention, exhibition, session, palaver, pourparler, durbar, house, quorum, council fire, powwow, primary, meeting, assemblage, member, senator, member of parliament, M, P, councilor, representative of the people, assemblyman, congressman, councilman, councilwoman, alderman, freeholder, senatorial, curule, congressional, parliamentary, legislative, law-making, regulatory, deliberative.

Churchdom

N church, churchdom, ministry, apostleship, priesthood, prelacy, hierarch, church government, christendom, pale of the church, clericalism, sacerdotalism, episcopalianism, ultramontanism, theocracy, ecclesiology, ecclesiologist, priestcraft, odium theologicum, monachism, monachy, monasticism, monkhood, pontificate, primacy, archbishopric, archiepiscopacy, prelacy, bishopric, bishopdom, episcopate, episcopacy, see, diocese, deanery, stall, canonry, canonicate, prebend, prebendaryship, benefice, incumbency, glebe, advowson, living, cure, rectorship, vicariate, vicarship, deaconry, deaconship, curacy, chaplain, chaplaincy, chaplainship, cardinalate, cardinalship, abbacy, presbytery, holy orders, ordination, institution, consecration, induction, reading in, preferment, translation, presentation, popedom, the Vatican, the apostolic see, religious sects, council, conclave, convocation, synod, consistory, chapter, vestry, sanhedrim, conge d'elire, ecclesiastical courts, consistorial court, court of Arches, ecclesiastical, ecclesiological, clerical, sacerdotal, priestly, prelatical, pastoral, ministerial, capitular, theocratic, hierarchical, archiepiscopal, episcopal, episcopalian, canonical, monastic, monachal, monkish, abbatial, abbatical, Anglican, pontifical, papal, apostolic, Roman, Popish, ultramontane, priest-ridden.

Topic

N topic, subject of thought, material for thought, food for the mind, mental pabulum, subject, subject matter, matter, theme, noemata, topic, what it is about, thesis, text, business, affair, matter in hand, argument, motion, resolution, head, chapter, case, point, proposition, theorem, field of inquiry, moot point, problem, thought of, uppermost in the mind, in petto, under consideration, in question, in the mind, on foot, on the carpet, on the docket, on the tapis, relative to.