E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Chapel
is the chest containing relics, or the shrine thereof (Latin, capella; French, chape, a cope). The kings of France in war carried St. Martin’s cope into the field, and kept it in a tent as a talisman. The place in which the cope was kept was called the chapelle, and the keeper thereof the chapelain.
1
Chapel (A). Either a place subsidiary to the parish church, or a place of worship not connected with the State, as a Methodist Chapel, a Baptist Chapel, etc.
