chapters

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of chapter.

   The opening chapters set up the main conflict of the story.

   Local chapters of the organization meet on the first Monday of each month.

   Note

   One plural serves every kind of chapter, and they are surprisingly different things. A novel's chapters are the author's own divisions, while the chapters of a manuscript collection were often imposed later by scholars to help readers find passages. The word also counts assemblies of cathedral clergy, communities of canons and the local branches of an organization. The same spelling doubles as the present-tense verb.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of chapter.

   The author chapters her memoir according to the cities she has lived in.

   Their software automatically chapters a long recording at every scene change.

   Note

   The present-tense form that pairs with he, she, it or a singular noun: the software chapters a recording. Dividing a text into sections is the familiar use, but the verb can also mean putting something into a chapter, removing someone through administrative procedure, or taking someone to task. In that last sense it always takes a direct object, the person being reprimanded.

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