chapter
Pluralchapters
Pluralchapters
Formschapters, chaptering, chaptered
- 1One of the main sections into which a book or other published work is divided.
The author revised the opening chapter several times before publication.
Later chapters explore the consequences of the discovery.
UsageUse in: in chapter 3, in the last chapter; with a number, no article: read chapter 5.
Note
Today "published work" is read broadly. Nintendo Power in 2003 described Fire Emblem's story as unfolding "through 70 chapters", so games and serials take the word as readily as novels do.
- 2A local branch of a larger organization, society or fraternity, with its own members and officers in a particular area or institution.
The fraternity's campus chapter organized the fundraiser.
Volunteers founded a regional chapter to coordinate relief efforts.
UsageA chapter of a group (a local chapter of the Red Cross); people join or start a chapter.
- 3A connected sequence of events regarded as one part of a longer story or history.
The peace treaty opened a hopeful chapter in the region's history.
Losing the championship closed a painful chapter for the team.
UsageOften a new chapter in someone's life or history; people open, close or begin a chapter.
Similarphase, period, episode, era
Note
The figurative chapter treats life as a book still being written, so it keeps company with verbs of opening and closing. Tony Streeter, writing in RAIL in 2023, has "a new chapter opens" in a railway's history. An older idiom, the chapter of accidents, means whatever chance may bring. In Bram Stoker's The Lair of the White Worm (1911), a character will "trust to the chapter of accidents" to pick up a trail.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Tony Streeter used 'a new chapter opens' about railway history in RAIL in 2023; Wiktionary identifies 8 February 2023, issue 976, page 36. en.wiktionary.org
- The older idiom 'chapter of accidents' means the unforeseen course of events. en.wiktionary.org
- Bram Stoker wrote The Lair of the White Worm, first published in 1911. en.wikipedia.org
- The original novel describes Mimi deciding to 'trust to the chapter of accidents' to recover a trail; this is narration about her decision. archive.org
- 4A division of a text, or of a collection or fragments of texts, introduced by scholars or editors rather than the original authors to help locate passages.
The chapter and verse divisions of the Bible were imposed long after the texts were written.
Canon lawyers cite the decree by its chapter, a division that later commentators made in the collection.
Similardivision
Note
Here the chapters belong to the readers, not the writer. Walter Hook's A Church Dictionary (1842) explains that the Bible's chapter and verse divisions were introduced to make reference easier. Charles Duggan writes of "decretal chapters" in twelfth-century collections. Joshua Byron Smith's Walter Map and the Matter of Britain (2017) shows how such divisions arose: a scribe could turn a marginal annotation into a chapter title.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Walter Hook wrote A Church Dictionary, first published in 1842. en.wikipedia.org
- Hook explains that the Bible's chapter and verse divisions were introduced to facilitate reference. gutenberg.org
- Charles Duggan uses the exact phrase “decretal chapters” when discussing twelfth-century collections. en.wiktionary.org
- Joshua Byron Smith wrote Walter Map and the Matter of Britain, first published in 2017. pennpress.org
- Smith discusses scribes turning annotations into chapter titles. en.wiktionary.org
- 5The body of clergy attached to a cathedral or collegiate church, usually headed by a dean, which governs it and advises the bishop.
The chapter convened to approve repairs to the cathedral roof.
The dean presided over the chapter's annual meeting.
Note
The church bodies take their name from the same Latin word. In Medieval Latin, capitulum meant not only a section of a book but also a synod or council. Here the word names the clergy themselves, so a chapter can meet and make decisions, and it is usually presided over by its dean.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The ecclesiastical and textual senses derive from the same Latin word, capitulum. en.wiktionary.org
- Medieval Latin capitulum could mean a synod or council as well as a section of a book. en.wiktionary.org
- A cathedral chapter is generally headed by a dean, although a provost may hold that position. en.wikipedia.org
Less common meanings
- 6
- 7To divide a written work into chapters, or to arrange written material into chapters.
The author chose to chapter the memoir by decade.
Modern editions chapter the ancient text for easier reference.
- 8A particular location or compartment.
In his bosom! In what chapter of his bosom?
c. 1601, William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”Note
A long-dead use that pictures a place as if it were divided like a book. Shakespeare's Twelfth Night asks, "In what chapter of his bosom?", meaning a hidden compartment of the heart. Because the sense is obsolete, readers now meet it in older literature, not in current prose. Used today for a drawer or a cabin, it reads as deliberate archaism or is simply misunderstood.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The location or compartment sense is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
- Shakespeare's Twelfth Night contains the exact question quoted, spoken by Olivia; the exchange pictures Orsino's heart as a text divided into chapters. folger.edu
- 9The building or room in which a cathedral or monastic chapter assembles.
- 10A religious community composed of canons or canonesses.
- 11In the US military, to discharge someone from service through formal administrative procedure, usually with out.
- 12To criticize or reprimand someone for a fault or failure.
- 13A short prescribed reading recited at one of the canonical hours.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English chapitre, borrowed via Old French chapitre from Latin capitulum ("a chapter of a book," and in Medieval Latin also a synod or council), a diminutive of caput ("a head"). It is a doublet of capital, capitulum, and chapiter.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Chapter derives from Middle English chapitre, through Old French chapitre, from Latin capitulum. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle English chapitre was borrowed from Old French chapitre. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin capitulum meant a chapter of a book and, in Medieval Latin, also a synod or council. en.wiktionary.org
- Capitulum is a diminutive of caput, meaning head. en.wiktionary.org
- Chapter is a doublet of capital, capitulum, and chapiter. en.wiktionary.org