chapel

[chap-uh l]

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noun

a private or subordinate place of prayer or worship; oratory.

a separately dedicated part of a church, or a small independent churchlike edifice, devoted to special services.

a room or building for worship in an institution, palace, etc.

(in Great Britain) a place of worship for members of various dissenting Protestant churches, as Baptists or Methodists.

a separate place of public worship dependent on the church of a parish.

a religious service in a chapel: Don't be late for chapel!

a funeral home or the room in which funeral services are held.

a choir or orchestra of a chapel, court, etc.

a print shop or printing house.

an association of employees in a print shop for dealing with their interests, problems, etc.

verb (used with object), chap·eled, chap·el·ing or (especially British) chap·elled, chap·el·ling.

Nautical. to maneuver (a sailing vessel taken aback) by the helm alone until the wind can be recovered on the original tack.

adjective

(in England) belonging to any of various dissenting Protestant sects.

Origin of chapel

1175–1225; Middle English chapele < Old French < Late Latin cappella hooded cloak, equivalent to capp(a) (see cap¹) + -ella diminutive suffix; first applied to the sanctuary where the cloak of St. Martin (4th-century bishop of Tours) was kept as a relic

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for chapel

sanctuary, shrine, church, oratory, tabernacle, bethel, chantry, vestry

Examples from the Web for chapel

Contemporary Examples of chapel

And the private “chapel” reportedly gives its newlyweds a conservative Christian CD with hetero-reinforcing marriage sermons.
Refusing to Marry Same-Sex Couples Isn’t Religious Freedom, It’s Just Discrimination
Sally Kohn
October 23, 2014
The next evening, Romero was saying mass in the chapel at the hospice where he lived in a tiny room near the infirm and the dying.
Why Pope Francis Wants to Declare Murdered Archbishop Romero a Saint
Christopher Dickey
August 24, 2014
Molly Worthen is an assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Did the Southern Baptist ‘Conservative Resurgence’ Fail?
Molly Worthen
June 1, 2014
In a small room off the chapel, they left offerings of gratitude for filled promises of recovery.
The Sacrificial Limbs of New Orleans
Nina Strochlic
March 12, 2014
Soon, believers seeking cures began flocking to the chapel and praying to its guardian angel, St. Roch.
The Sacrificial Limbs of New Orleans
Nina Strochlic
March 12, 2014

Historical Examples of chapel

The chapel was thronged, the majority of members being women.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
My heart fluttered as I rose to comply with the demand, and the chapel was hushed.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
I avoided the house of Mr Clayton, and absented myself from his chapel.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
To the major it was thenceforth chamber and chapel and monument.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
So says the inscription on a large slab of black marble in the floor of the chapel.
Yorkshire Painted And Described
Gordon Home

British Dictionary definitions for chapel

chapel

noun

a place of Christian worship in a larger building, esp a place set apart, with a separate altar, in a church or cathedral

a similar place of worship in or attached to a large house or institution, such as a college, hospital or prison

a church subordinate to a parish church

(in Britain)

a Nonconformist place of worship
Nonconformist religious practices or doctrine
(as adjective)he is chapel, but his wife is church Compare church (def. 8)

(in Scotland) a Roman Catholic church

the members of a trade union in a particular newspaper office, printing house, etc

a printing office

Word Origin for chapel

C13: from Old French chapele, from Late Latin cappella, diminutive of cappa cloak (see cap); originally denoting the sanctuary where the cloak of St Martin of Tours was kept as a relic

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for chapel

early 13c., from Old French chapele (12c., Modern French chapelle), from Medieval Latin cappella "chapel, sanctuary for relics," literally "little cape," diminutive of Late Latin cappa "cape" (see cap (n.)); by tradition, originally in reference to the sanctuary in France in which the miraculous cape of St. Martin of Tours, patron saint of France, was preserved; meaning extended in most European languages to "any sanctuary." (While serving Rome as a soldier deployed in Gaul, Martin cut his military coat in half to share it with a ragged beggar. That night, Martin dreamed Christ wearing the half-cloak; the half Martin kept was the relic.)