Chapel

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: chap=el

CIDE DICTIONARY

Chapel, n. [OF. chapele, F. chapelle, fr. LL. capella, orig., a short cloak, hood, or cowl; later, a reliquary, sacred vessel, chapel; dim. of cappa, capa, cloak, cape, cope; also, a covering for the head. The chapel where St. Martin's cloak was preserved as a precious relic, itself came to be called capella, whence the name was applied to similar paces of worship, and the guardian of this cloak was called capellanus, or chaplain. See Cap, and cf. Chaplain., Chaplet.].

•  A subordinate place of worship  [1913 Webster]

  " In Catholic churches, and also in cathedrals and abbey churches, chapels are usually annexed in the recesses on the sides of the aisles. Gwilt."  Gwilt.  [1913 Webster]
•  A place of worship not connected with a church; as, the chapel of a palace, hospital, or prison.  [1913 Webster]
•  In England, a place of worship used by dissenters from the Established Church; a meetinghouse.  [1913 Webster]
•  A choir of singers, or an orchestra, attached to the court of a prince or nobleman.  [1913 Webster]
•  A printing office, said to be so called because printing was first carried on in England in a chapel near Westminster Abbey.  [1913 Webster]

Chapel of ease. (a) A chapel or dependent church built for the ease or a accommodation of an increasing parish, or for parishioners who live at a distance from the principal church. (b) A privy. (Law) -- Chapel master, a director of music in a chapel; the director of a court or orchestra. -- To build a chapel (Naut.), to chapel a ship. See Chapel, v. t., 2. -- To hold a chapel, to have a meeting of the men employed in a printing office, for the purpose of considering questions affecting their interests.

Chapel, v. t. 

•  To deposit or inter in a chapel; to enshrine.  Beau. & Fl.  [1913 Webster]
•  To cause (a ship taken aback in a light breeze) so to turn or make a circuit as to recover, without bracing the yards, the same tack on which she had been sailing.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Chapel, n.
1 a a place for private Christian worship in a large church or esp. a cathedral, with its own altar and dedication (Lady chapel). b a place of Christian worship attached to a private house or institution.
2 Brit. a a place of worship for nonconformist bodies. b (predic.) an attender at or believer in nonconformist worship (they are strictly chapel). c a chapel service. d attendance at a chapel.
3 an Anglican church subordinate to a parish church.
4 Printing a the members or branch of a printers' trade union at a specific place of work. b a meeting of them.

Idiom

chapel of ease an Anglican chapel for the convenience of remote parishioners. chapel of rest an undertaker's mortuary. chapel royal a chapel in a royal palace. father of chapel (or the chapel) the shop steward of a printers' chapel.

Etymology

ME f. OF chapele f. med.L cappella dimin. of cappa cloak: the first chapel was a sanctuary in which St Martin's sacred cloak (cappella) was preserved

THESAURUS

Chapel

Lady chapel, amphitheater, arena, assembly hall, auditorium, chantry, chapel of ease, chapel royal, concert hall, convention hall, dance hall, exhibition hall, gallery, hall, lecture hall, meetinghouse, music hall, opera house, oratorium, oratory, sacellum, sacrament chapel, sacrarium, school chapel, side chapel, stadium, theater

ROGET THESAURUS

Chapel

Temple

N temple, place of worship, house of God, house of prayer, temple, cathedral, minster, church, kirk, chapel, meetinghouse, bethel, tabernacle, conventicle, basilica, fane, holy place, chantry, oratory, synagogue, mosque, marabout, pantheon, pagoda, joss house, dogobah, tope, kiosk, kiack, masjid, parsonage, rectory, vicarage, manse, deanery, glebe, Vatican, bishop's palace, Lambeth, altar, shrine, sanctuary, Holy of Holies, sanctum sanctorum, sacristy, sacrarium, communion table, holy table, Lord's table, table of the Lord, pyx, baptistery, font, piscina, stoup, aumbry, sedile, reredos, rood loft, rood screen, chancel, quire, choir, nave, aisle, transept, vestry, crypt, golgotha, calvary, Easter sepulcher, stall, pew, pulpit, ambo, lectern, reading desk, confessional, prothesis, credence, baldachin, baldacchino, apse, belfry, chapter house, presbytery, anxious-bench, anxious-seat, diaconicum, jube, mourner's bench, mourner's seat, cloisters, churchyard, monastery, priory, abbey, friary, convent, nunnery, cloister, claustral, cloistered, monastic, monasterial, conventual, ne vile fano, there's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple.