ARTFL Project: Webster Dictionary, 1913

ARTFL Project: Webster Dictionary, 1913


Page 240

Chantry

Chant"ry (?), n.; pl. Chantries (#). [OF. chanterie, fr. chanter to sing.]

1. An endowment or foundation for the chanting of masses and offering of prayers, commonly for the founder.

2. A chapel or altar so endowed. Cowell.

Chaomancy

Cha"o*man`cy (?), n. [Gr. the atmosphere + -mancy.] Divination by means of apperances in the air.

Chaos

Cha"os (?), n. [L. chaos chaos (in senses 1 & 2), Gr. , fr. (root ) to yawn, to gape, to open widely. Cf. Chasm.]

1. An empty, immeasurable space; a yawning chasm. [Archaic]

Between us and there is fixed a great chaos. Luke xvi. 26 (Rhemish Trans. ).

2. The confused, unorganized condition or mass of matter before the creation of distinct and order forms.

3. Any confused or disordered collection or state of things; a confused mixture; confusion; disorder.

Chaotic

Cha*ot"ic (?), a. Resembling chaos; confused.

Chaotically

Cha*ot"ic*al*ly (?), adv. In a chaotic manner.

Chap

Chap (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Chapped (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Chapping.] [See Chop to cut.]

1. To cause to open in slits or chinks; to split; to cause the skin of to crack or become rough.

Then would unbalanced heat licentious reign, Crack the dry hill, and chap the russet plain. Blackmore.
Nor winter's blast chap her fair face. Lyly.

2. To strike; to beat. [Scot.]

Chap

Chap, v. i.

1. To crack or open in slits; as, the earth chaps; the hands chap.

2. To strike; to knock; to rap. [Scot.]

Chap

Chap, n. [From Chap, v. t. & i.]

1. A cleft, crack, or chink, as in the surface of the earth, or in the skin.

2. A division; a breach, as in a party. [Obs.]

Many clefts and chaps in our council board. T. Fuller.

3. A blow; a rap. [Scot.]

Chap

Chap (?), n. [OE. chaft; of Scand. origin; cf. Icel kjaptr jaw, Sw. Käft, D. kiæft; akin to G. kiefer, and E. jowl. Cf. Chops.]

1. One of the jaws or the fleshy covering of a jaw; -- commonly in the plural, and used of animals, and colloquially of human beings.

His chaps were all besmeared with crimson blood. Cowley.
He unseamed him [Macdonald] from the nave to the chaps. Shak.

2. One of the jaws or cheeks of a vise, etc.

Chap

Chap (?), n. [Perh. abbreviated fr. chapman, but used in a more general sense; or cf. Dan. kiæft jaw, person, E. chap jaw.]

1. A buyer; a chapman. [Obs.]

If you want to sell, here is your chap. Steele.

2. A man or boy; a youth; a fellow. [Colloq.]

Chap

Chap, v. i. [See Cheapen.] To bargain; to buy. [Obs.]

Chaparral

Cha`par*ral" (?), n. [Sp., fr. chaparro an evergeen oak.]

1. A thicket of low evergreen oaks.

2. An almost impenetrable thicket or succession of thickets of thorny shrubs and brambles. Chaparral cock; fem. Chaparral hen (Zoöl.), a bird of the cuckoo family (Geococcyx Californianus), noted for running with great speed. It ranges from California to Mexico and eastward to Texas; -- called also road runner, ground cuckoo, churea, and snake killer<--; it is the state bird of New Mexico -->.

Chapbook

Chap"book` (?), n. [See Chap to cheapen.] Any small book carried about for sale by chapmen or hawkers. Hence, any small book; a toy book.

Chape

Chape (?), n. [F., a churchman's cope, a cover, a chape, fr. L. cappa. See Cap.]

1. The piece by which an object is attached to something, as the frog of a scabbard or the metal loop at the back of a buckle by which it is fastened to a strap.

2. The transverse guard of a sword or dagger.

3. The metal plate or tip which protects the end of a scabbard, belt, etc. Knight.

Chapeau

Cha`peau" (?), n.; pl. Chapeux (#). [F., fr. OF. chapel hat. See Chaplet.]

1. hat or covering for the head.

2. (Her.) A cap of maintenance. See Maintenance. Chapeau bras () [F. chapeau hat + bras arm], a hat so made that it can be compressed and carried under the arm without injury. Such hats were particularly worn on dress occasions by gentlemen in the 18th century. A chapeau bras is now worn in the United States army by general and staff officers.

Chaped

Chaped (?), p. p. ∨ a. Furnished with a chape or chapes. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Chapel

Chap"el (?), 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.]

1. A subordinate place of worship; as, (a) a small church, often a private foundation, as for a memorial; (b) a small building attached to a church; (c) a room or recess in a church, containing an altar. &hand; In Catholic churches, and also in cathedrals and abbey churches, chapels are usually annexed in the recesses on the sides of the aisles. Gwilt.

2. A place of worship not connected with a church; as, the chapel of a palace, hospital, or prison.

3. In England, a place of worship used by dissenters from the Established Church; a meetinghouse.

4. A choir of singers, or an orchastra, attached to the court of a prince or nobleman.

5. (Print.) (a) A printing office, said to be so called because printing was first carried on in England in a chapel near Westminster Abbey. (b) An association of workmen in a printing office. 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

Chap"el (?), v. t.

1. To deposit or inter in a chapel; to enshrine. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.

2. (Naut.) 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.

Chapeless

Chape"less (?), a. Without a chape.

Chapelet

Chap"e*let (?), n. [F. See Chaplet.]

1. A pair of Straps, with stirrups, joined at the top and fastened to the pommel or the frame of the saddle, after they have been adjusted to the convenience of the rider. [Written also chaplet.]

2. A kind of chain pump, or dredging machine.

Chapellany

Chap"el*la*ny (?), n.; pl. Chapellanies (#). [Cf. E. chapellenie, LL. capellania. See Chaplain.] A chapel within the jurisdiction of a church; a subordinate ecclesiastical foundation.

Chapelry

Chap"el*ry (?), n. [Cf. OF. chapelerie.] The territorial disrict legally assigned to a chapel.

Chaperon

Chap"er*on (?), n. [F. chaperon. See Chape, Cape, Cap.]

1. A hood; especially, an ornamental or an official hood.

His head and face covered with a chaperon, out of which there are but two holes to look through. Howell.

2. A divice placed on the foreheads of horses which draw the hearse in pompous funerals.

3. A matron who accompanies a young lady in public, for propriety, or as a guide and protector.

Chaperon

Chap"er*on, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Chaperoned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Chaperoning.] [Cf. F. chaperonner, fr. chaperon.] To attend in public places as a guide and protector; to matronize.
Fortunately Lady Bell Finley, whom I had promised to chaperon, sent to excuse herself. Hannah More.

Chaperonage

Chap"er*on`age (?), n. Attendance of a chaperon on a lady in public; protection afforded by a chaperon.

Chapfallen

Chap"fall`en (?), a. Having the lower chap or jaw drooping, -- an indication of humiliation and dejection; crestfallen; discouraged. See Chopfallen.

Chapiter

Chap"i*ter (?), n. [OF. chapitel, F. chapiteau, from L. capitellum, dim. of caput head. Cf. Capital, Chapter.]

1. (Arch.) A capital [Obs.] See Chapital. Ex. xxxvi. 38.

2. (Old Eng. Law) A summary in writing of such matters as are to be inquired of or presented before justices in eyre, or justices of assize, or of the peace, in their sessions; -- also called articles. Jacob.

Chaplain

Chap"lain (?), n. [F. chapelain, fr. LL. capellanus, fr. capella. See Chapel.]

1. An ecclesiastic who has a chapel, or who performs religious service in a chapel.

2. A clergyman who is officially atteched to the army or navy, to some public institution, or to a family or court, for the purpose of performing divine service.

3. Any person (clergyman or layman) chosen to conduct religious exercises for a society, etc.; as, a chaplain of a Masonic or a temperance lodge.

Chaplaincy

Chap"lain*cy (?), n.; pl. Chaplaincies (). The office, position, or station of a chaplain. Swift.

Chaplainship

Chap"lain*ship, n.

1. The office or business of a chaplain.

The Bethesda of some knight's chaplainship. Milton.

2. The possession or revenue of a chapel. Johnson.

Chapless

Chap"less (?), a. Having no lower jaw; hence, fleshless. [R.] Yellow, chapless skulls." Shak.

Chaplet

Chap"let (?), n. [F. chapelet, dim. of OF. chapel hat, garland, dim. fr. LL. cappa. See Cap, and cf. Chapelet, Chapeau.]

1. A garland or wreath to be worn on the head.

2. A string of beads, or part of a string, used by Roman Catholic in praying; a third of a rosary, or fifty beads.

Her chaplet of beads and her missal. Longfellow.

3. (Arch.) A small molding, carved into beads, pearls, olives, etc.

4. (Man.) A chapelet. See Chapelet, 1.

5. (Founding) A bent piece of sheet iron, or a pin with thin plates on its ends, for holding a core in place in the mold.

6. A tuft of feathers on a peacock's head. Johnson.

Chaplet

Chap"let, n. A small chapel or shrine.

Chaplet

Chap"let, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Chapleted.] To adorn with a chaplet or with flowers. R. Browning.

Chapman

Chap"man (?), n.; pl. Chapmen (#). [AS. ceápman; ceáp trade + man man; akin to D. koopman, Sw. köpman, Dan. kiöpmand, G. kaufmann.f. Chap to cheapen, and see Cheap.]

1. One who buys and sells; a merchant; a buyer or a seller. [Obs.]

The word of life is a quick commodity, and ought not, as a drug to be obtruded on those chapmen who are unwilling to buy it. T. Fuller.

2. A peddler; a hawker.

Chappy

Chap"py (?), Full of chaps; cleft; gaping; open.

Chaps

Chaps (?), n. pl. The jaws, or the fleshy parts about them. See Chap. Open your chaps again." Shak.

Chapter

Chap"ter (?), n. [OF. chapitre, F. chapitre, fr. L. capitulum, dim. of caput head, the chief person or thing, the principal division of a writing, chapter. See Chief, and cf, Chapiter.]

1. A division of a book or treatise; as, Genesis has fifty chapters.

2. (Eccl.) (a) An assembly of monks, or of the prebends and other clergymen connected with a cathedral, conventual, or collegiate church, or of a diocese, usually presided over by the dean.(b) A community of canons or canonesses.(c) A bishop's council.(d) A business meeting of any religious community.

3. An organized branch of some society or fraternity as of the Freemasons. Robertson.

4. A meeting of certain organized societies or orders.

5. A chapter house. [R.] Burrill.

6. A decretal epistle. Ayliffe.

7. A location or compartment.

In his bosom! In what chapter of his bosom? Shak.
Chapter head, ∨ Chapter heading, that which stands at the head of a chapter, as a title. -- Chapter house, a house or room where a chapter meets, esp. a cathedral chapter. -- The chapter of accidents, chance. Marryat.

Chapter

Chap"ter (?), v. t.

1. To divide into chapters, as a book. Fuller.

2. To correct; to bring to book, i. e., to demand chapter and verse. [Obs.] Dryden.

Chaptrel

Chap"trel (?), n. [See Chapiter.] (Arch.) An impost. [Obs.]

Char, Charr

Char, Charr (?), n. [Ir. cear, Gael. ceara, lit., red, blood-colored, fr. cear blood. So named from its red belly.] (Zoöl.) One of the several species of fishes of the genus Salvelinus, allied to the spotted trout and salmon, inhabiting deep lakes in mountainous regions in Europe. In the United States, the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) is sometimes called a char.

Char

Char, n. [F.] A car; a chariot. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Char

Char (?), n. [OE. cherr, char a turning, time, work, AS. cerr, cyrr, turn, occasion, business, fr. cerran, cyrran, to turn; akin to OS. kërian, OHG. chëran, G. kehren. Cf. Chore, Ajar.] Work done by the day; a single job, or task; a chore. [Written also chare.] [Eng.]
When thou hast done this chare, I give thee leave To play till doomsday. Shak.

Char, Chare

Char, Chare, v. t. [See 3d Char.]

1. To perform; to do; to finish. [Obs.] Nores.

Thet char is chared, as the good wife said when she had hanged her husband. Old Proverb.

2. To work or hew, as stone. Oxf. Gloss.

Char, Chare

Char, Chare, v. i. To work by the day, without being a regularly hired servant; to do small jobs.

Char

Char (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Charred (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Charring.] [Prob. the same word as char to perform (see Char, n.), the modern use coming from charcoal, prop. coal-turned, turned to coal.]

1. To reduce to coal or carbon by exposure to heat; to reduce to charcoal; to burn to a cinder.

2. To burn slightly or partially; as, to char wood.

Chara

Cha"ra (?), n. [NL., of uncertain origin.] (Bot.) A genus of flowerless plants, having articulated stems and whorled branches. They flourish in wet places.

Char-a-bancs

Char`-a-bancs" (?), n.; pl. Chars-a-banc (#). [F.] A long, light, open vehicle, with benches or seats running lengthwise.

Charact

Char"act (?), n. A distinctive mark; a character; a letter or sign. [Obs.] See Character.
In all his dressings, characts, titles, forms. Shak.

Character

Char"ac*ter (?), n. [L., an instrument for marking, character, Gr. , fr. to make sharp, to cut into furrows, to engrave: cf. F. caract\'8are.]

1. A distinctive mark; a letter, figure, or symbol.

It were much to be wished that there were throughout the world but one sort of character for each letter to express it to the eye. Holder.

2. Style of writing or printing; handwriting; the peculiar form of letters used by a particular person or people; as, an inscription in the Runic character.

You know the character to be your brother's? Shak.

3. The peculiar quality, or the sum of qualities, by which a person or a thing is distinguished from others; the stamp impressed by nature, education, or habit; that which a person or thing really is; nature; disposition.

The character or that dominion. Milton.
Know well each Ancient's proper character; His fable, subject, scope in every page; Religion, Country, genius of his Age. Pope.
A man of . . . thoroughly subservient character. Motley.

4. Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; as, he has a great deal of character.

5. Moral quality; the principles and motives that control the life; as, a man of character; his character saves him from suspicion.

6. Quality, position, rank, or capacity; quality or conduct with respect to a certain office or duty; as, in the miserable character of a slave; in his character as a magistrate; her character as a daughter.

7. The estimate, individual or general, put upon a person or thing; reputation; as, a man's character for truth and veracity; to give one a bad character.

This subterraneous passage is much mended since Seneca gave so bad a character of it. Addison.

8. A written statement as to behavior, competency, etc., given to a servant. [Colloq.]

9. A unique or extraordinary individuality; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits; a person who illustrates certain phases of character; as, Randolph was a character; Cæsar is a great historical character.

10. One of the persons of a drama or novel. &hand; It would be well if character and reputation were used distinctively. In truth, character is what a person is; reputation is what he is supposed to be. Character is in himself, reputation is in the minds of others. Character is injured by temptations, and by wrongdoing; reputation by slanders, and libels. Character endures throughout defamation in every form, but perishes when there is a voluntary transgression; reputation may last through numerous transgressions, but be destroyed by a single, and even an unfounded, accusation or aspersion." Abbott.

Character

Char"ac*ter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Charactered (?).]

1. To engrave; to inscribe. [R.]

These trees shall be my books. And in their barks my thoughts I 'll character. Shak.

2. To distinguish by particular marks or traits; to describe; to characterize. [R.] Mitford.