Definition of: chapter

(chap′tər) noun
1. A division of a book or treatise, usually marked by a number and heading.
2. The body of clergy connected with a cathedral or other collegiate church; also, a council of such body, or their place of assembly.
3. Eccl. The meeting of any order.
4. In certain church services, a short Scriptural passage read immediately after the psalms.
5. A branch of a club, brotherhood, or other association, especially of a college fraternity or sorority.
—cathedral chapter The personnel of canons attached to a cathedral.
—conventual chapter The assembly of the clergy of one house or of an entire order for the purpose of regulating domestic affairs.
—v.t. To divide into chapters, as a book. [<F chapitre <OF chapitle <L capitulum, dim. of caput head, capital, chapter]