chap·lain

(chăp′lĭn)

1. A member of the clergy attached to a chapel.

a. A member of the clergy who conducts religious services for an institution, such as a prison or hospital.

b. A lay person who is appointed to provide spiritual leadership and counseling to members of an institution, as at a university.

c. A member of the clergy who is connected with a royal court or an aristocratic household.

3. A member of the clergy attached to a branch of the armed forces.

[Middle English chapelein, from Old French chapelain, from Medieval Latin capellānus, from capella, chapel; see chapel.]

chap′lain·cy, chap′lain·ship′ n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

chaplain

(ˈtʃæplɪn)

(Ecclesiastical Terms) a Christian clergyman attached to a private chapel of a prominent person or institution or ministering to a military body, professional group, etc: a military chaplain; a prison chaplain.

[C12: from Old French chapelain, from Late Latin cappellānus, from cappella chapel]

ˈchaplaincy, ˈchaplainˌship, ˈchaplainry n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

chap•lain

(ˈtʃæp lɪn)

n.

1. an ecclesiastic associated with the chapel of a royal court, college, or military unit.

2. a person who says the prayer, invocation, etc., for an organization or at an assembly.

[1100–50; Middle English chapeleyn, late Old English capelein < Old North French, Old French < Medieval Latin cappellānus, orig. custodian of St. Martin's cloak (see chapel, -an¹)]

chap′lain•cy, chap′lain•ship`, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

chaplain - a clergyman ministering to some institution

prison chaplain - a chaplain in a prison

clergyman, man of the cloth, reverend - a member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church

hospital chaplain - a chaplain in a hospital

Holy Joe, military chaplain, padre, sky pilot - a chaplain in one of the military services

Translations

كاهِنٌ

kaplanvojenský kněz

Kaplan Geistliche

kappalainen

aumônier

káplán

prestur

cappellano

kapelionas

kapelāns

feltprest fengselsprest skipsprest sykehusprest

vojenský kňaz

…papazı

牧师

chaplain

[ˈtʃæplɪn] N → capellán m
chaplain general (Mil) → vicario m general castrense

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

chaplain

[ˈtʃæplɪn] n → aumônier m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

chaplain

n → Kaplan m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

chaplain

[ˈtʃæplɪn] n → cappellano

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

chaplain

(ˈtʃӕplin) noun

a clergyman attached to a ship, regiment etc.

chaplain

n capellán m, sacerdote m

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"Those present stood listening to the words and exclamations of the madman; but our licentiate, turning to the chaplain and seizing him by the hands, said to him, 'Be not uneasy, senor; attach no importance to what this madman has said; for if he is Jupiter and will not send rain, I, who am Neptune, the father and god of the waters, will rain as often as it pleases me and may be needful.'

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'Yonder comes a priest.' It was Bennett, the Church of England Chaplain of the regiment, limping in dusty black.

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"Ah, not for me," said the chaplain blandly, "for I have been watching you and Miss Honeychurch for quite a little time."

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Please be so good as to appoint my nephew Night Chaplain and Reminder of Mothers and Sisters."

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"Yes, Adam; I and the chaplain have both been with her this evening."

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She was a five-hundred-ton boat; and besides her thirty-eight jail-birds, she carried twenty-six of a crew, eighteen soldiers, a captain, three mates, a doctor, a chaplain, and four warders.

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The hook caught once, and Harris started up it hand over hand, but the hold broke and if there had not happened to be a chaplain sitting underneath at the time, Harris would certainly have been crippled.

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``Our chaplain attempted to teach me to write,'' he said, ``but all my letters were formed like spear-heads and sword-blades, and so the old shaveling gave up the task.''

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Peters afterwards went back to England, and was chaplain to Oliver Cromwell; but Grandfather did not tell the children what became of this upright and zealous man at last.

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George's education was confided to a neighbouring scholar and private pedagogue who "prepared young noblemen and gentlemen for the Universities, the senate, and the learned professions: whose system did not embrace the degrading corporal severities still practised at the ancient places of education, and in whose family the pupils would find the elegances of refined society and the confidence and affection of a home." It was in this way that the Reverend Lawrence Veal of Hart Street, Bloomsbury, and domestic Chaplain to the Earl of Bareacres, strove with Mrs.

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The Provost-Marshal, who is a friend of mine, told me that there was a special warning out against a person purporting to be an American chaplain who had escaped from Belgium.

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The chaplain had not yet arrived; and there these silent islands of men and women sat steadfastly eyeing several marble tablets, with black borders, masoned into the wall on either side the pulpit.

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