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Chapter vs Span - What's the difference?

chapter | span | Synonyms |

Chapter is a synonym of span.


As a noun chapter

is one of the main sections into which the text of a book is divided.

As a verb chapter

is to divide into chapters.

As an adjective span is

hairless, glabrous.

chapter

English

Alternative forms

* chaptre (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • One of the main sections into which the text of a book is divided.
  • :
  • *
  • *:At her invitation he outlined for her the succeeding chapters with terse military accuracy?; and what she liked best and best understood was avoidance of that false modesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.
  • A section of a social or religious body.
  • #An administrative division of an organization, usually local to a specific area.
  • #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.
  • #A community of canons or canonesses.
  • #A bishop's council.
  • #An organized branch of some society or fraternity, such as the Freemasons.
  • #:(Robertson)
  • #A meeting of certain organized societies or orders.
  • #A chapter house.
  • #:(Burrill)
  • A sequence (of events), especially when presumed related and likely to continue.
  • *1866 , (Wilkie Collins), , Book the Last, Chapter I,
  • *:"You know that Mr. Armadale is alive," pursued the doctor, "and you know that he is coming back to England. Why do you continue to wear your widow's dress?" ¶ She answered him without an instant's hesitation, steadily going on with her work. ¶ "Because I am of a sanguine disposition, like you. I mean to trust to the chapter of accidents to the very last. Mr. Armadale may die yet, on his way home."
  • *1911 , (Bram Stoker), , Ch.26,
  • *:she determined to go on slowly towards Castra Regis, and trust to the chapter of accidents to pick up the trail again.
  • A decretal epistle.
  • :(Ayliffe)
  • (lb) A location or compartment.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:In his bosom! In what chapter of his bosom?
  • Derived terms

    * chapter and verse * chapter house * to the end of the chapter

    See also

    * overarching

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To divide into chapters.
  • To put into a chapter.
  • To use administrative procedure to remove someone.
  • * 2001 , John Palmer Hawkins, Army of Hope, Army of Alienation: Culture and Contradiction in the American Army Communities of Cold War Germany , page 117,
  • If you're a single parent [soldier] and you can't find someone to take care of your children, they will chapter you out [administrative elimination from the service]. And yet if you use someone not certified, they get mad.
  • * 2006 , Thomas R. Schombert, Diaries of a Soldier: Nightmares from Within , page 100,
  • "He also wanted me to give you a message. He said that if you don't get your shit ready for this deployment, then he will chapter you out of his freakin' army."

    Anagrams

    * * * *

    span

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) spann

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The space from the thumb to the end of the little finger when extended; nine inches; eighth of a fathom.
  • Hence, a small space or a brief portion of time.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Yet not to earth's contracted span / Thy goodness let me bound.
  • * Farquhar
  • Life's but a span ; I'll every inch enjoy.
  • * 2007 . Zerzan, John. Silence .
  • The unsilent present is a time of evaporating attention spans ,
  • The spread or extent of an arch or between its abutments, or of a beam, girder, truss, roof, bridge, or the like, between supports.
  • The length of a cable, wire, rope, chain between two consecutive supports.
  • (nautical) A rope having its ends made fast so that a purchase can be hooked to the bight; also, a rope made fast in the center so that both ends can be used.
  • (obsolete) A pair of horses or other animals driven together; usually, such a pair of horses when similar in color, form, and action.
  • (mathematics) the space of all linear combinations of something
  • Etymology 2

    Old English spannan

    Verb

    (spann)
  • To traverse the distance between.
  • The suspension bridge spanned the canyon as tenuously as one could imagine.
  • To cover or extend over an area or time period.
  • The parking lot spans three acres.
    The novel spans three centuries.
    World record! 5 GHz WiFi connection spans 189 miles. [http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/27/world-record-5ghz-wifi-connection-spans-189-miles/]
  • * Prescott
  • The rivers were spanned by arches of solid masonry.
  • To measure by the span of the hand with the fingers extended, or with the fingers encompassing the object.
  • to span''' a space or distance; to '''span a cylinder
  • * Bible, Isa. xiviii. 13
  • My right hand hath spanned the heavens.
  • (mathematics) to generate an entire space by means of linear combinations
  • (intransitive, US, dated) To be matched, as horses.
  • To fetter, as a horse; to hobble.
  • Etymology 3

    Verb

    (head)
  • (archaic, nonstandard) (spin)
  • *
  • * '>citation
  • *:a giant pick-up truck span out of control during a stunt show in a Dutch town, killing three people