chancel

Definition

The space around the altar in a church or cathedral, often enclosed, for use by the clergy and the choir. In medieval cathedrals the chancel was usually enclosed or blocked off from the nave by an altar screen.

Etymology

From Old French chancel. Doublet of cancellus.

Example Sentences

• "Holonyms: church, cathedral"
• "Near-synonyms: presbytery, sanctuary, apse (all broadly synonymous)"
• "The Citizens in their rage, imagining that euery poſt in the Churche had bin one of yᵉ Souldyers, ſhot habbe or nabbe at randon^([sic – meaning random]) uppe to the Roode lofte, and to the Chancell, leauing ſome of theyr arrowes ſticking in the Images."

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