Chap"py (?), Full of chaps; cleft; gaping; open.
Chaps (?), n. pl. The jaws, or the fleshy parts about them. See Chap. "Open your chaps again." Shak.
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.