chap·ter / ˈchaptər/ • n. 1. a main division of a book, typically with a number or title. ∎ fig. a period of time or an episode in a person's life, a nation's history, etc.: a tragic chapter in history.2. a local branch of a society.3. the governing body of a religious community, esp. a cathedral or a knightly order.4. a series or sequence: the latest episode in a chapter of problems.PHRASES: chapter and verse an exact reference or authority.

chapter2 the main division of a book.
chapter and verse an exact reference or authority; originally, the exact reference to a passage of Scripture (the usage is recorded from the early 17th century). Chapter and verse divisions to the scriptures are of comparatively late date; Jewish scholars of the 6th to 10th centuries ad (Masoretes) divided books into verses, and the New Testament was divided into chapters by Stephen Langton (c.1150–1228). Verses appeared in the Greek and Latin editions of the New Testament produced in Geneva in 1551, and then in the English Geneva Bible of 1560.
chapter of accidents a series of unfortunate events; the term is recorded from the late 18th century.

chapter1 the governing body of a religious community, especially a cathedral, or a knightly order. The term is recorded from Middle English, and comes via Old French from Latin capitulum, diminutive of caput ‘head’.
chapter house a building used for the meetings of the canons of a cathedral or other religious community.

chapter main section of a book XIII; assembly of a religious community or collegiate church (orig. with ref. to the reading of a chapter of Scripture or of the Rule) XIV; members of this XV. — (O)F. chapitre, earlier chapitle — L. capitulum, dim. of caput HEAD.