chape

See also: chapé, and chapè

English

Etymology

From Middle English chape, from Old French chape (“a churchman's cope, a cover, a chape”), from Latin cappa, itself derived from Latin caput. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *káput- and Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“head”). Doublet of cap, cape, and cope.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃeɪp/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪp

Noun

chape (plural chapes)

1. The lower metallic cap at the end of a sword's scabbard.
   • 1904, Sir Guy Francis Laking, The Armoury of Windsor Castle: European Section, page 181:

     The blade is 33 in. long, of triangular section, etched, gilt and blued at the hilt. The scabbard is covered with black sole-skin, with a gilt locket and chape; the locket inscribed BLAND AND FOSTER, SWORD CUTLERS […]

   • 2012 December 6, Roger Keverne, Jade, Springer, →ISBN, page 119:

     Sword and scabbard fittings comprise the sword pommel, the chape at the end of the scabbard, the sword guard at the top of the blade, the sword slide and its accompanying reverse fitting (the latter being sometimes referred to as a girdle-clasp) that were normally bound into the scabbard […]

   • 2013 June 17, Henri Hubert, The Rise of the Celts, Routledge, →ISBN:

     The scabbard ended in a chape, which took two forms: sometimes it terminated in a ball, and sometimes in a crescent or fish-tail.

2. Alternative form of chappe (“rainguard”) (piece fitted to a sword's crossguard).
   • 2018 July 30, Dierk Hagedorn, Bartlomiej Walczak, Medieval Armoured Combat: The 1450 Fencing Manuscript from New Haven, Casemate Publishers, →ISBN:

     […] the swords nevertheless do not lack the chape, the small leather piece that overlaps the crossguard in a semi-circle over the base of the blade and that is often referred to as a rain guard.

3. (archaic) The piece by which an object is attached to something, such as the frog of a scabbard or the metal loop at the back of a buckle by which it is fastened to a strap.
   • 1862, United States. Army. Ordnance Department, The Ordnance Manual for the Use of the Officers of the United States Army, page 229:

     SABRE-BELT, ( black buff-leather.) — Length 36 to 40 inches, width 1.9 inch; 2 leather chapes sewed on the outside of the belt for attaching 2 brass loops  […]

   • 1893, Saddlery and Harness, page 113:

     At the end of each point a buckle is attached by means of a leather chape, and it is to these buckles that the two  […]

Derived terms

• chaped
• chapeless

 

Translations

metal cap of a scabbard

• Bulgarian: обков m (obkov)
• Finnish: kenkäin
• Icelandic: döggskór m
• Portuguese: ponteira (pt) f

References

• Edward H[enry] Knight (1877) “Chape”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. […], volumes I (A–GAS), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC.

Further reading

• Swords on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Peach, Pecha, cheap, peach

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French chape.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃɑp/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cha‧pe
• Homophone: sjap

Noun

chape m or f (plural chapes, diminutive chapeje n or chapeke n)

1. (Belgium, construction) screed

Synonyms

• dekvloer, ondervloer, slijtlaag

References

• [1]

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French chape, from Late Latin cappa. Doublet of cape.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃap/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ap
• Homophone: chapes

Noun

chape f (plural chapes)

1. (archaic) cape, cloak
2. (liturgy) cope, cappa (ceremonial cape)

   Synonym: pluvial

3. (nautical) gin block
4. tread (of tyre)
5. (manufacturing) clevis
6. screed

Related terms

• chapeau
• chapelle
• échapper

Further reading

• “chape”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• pécha, pêcha

Galician

Verb

chape

1. inflection of chapar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French échapper (“to escape”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃaˈpe/

Verb

chape

1. escape
   • Haitian Creole Bible Jòb 1:14-15:

     Yon mesaje kouri vin jwenn Jòb, li di l' konsa: -Nou t'ap raboure tè ak bèf yo, fenmèl bourik yo t'ap manje toupre, lè yon bann moun Seba tonbe sou nou, yo pran tout bèt yo, yo touye tout moun ou yo. Se renk mwen menm ki resi chape vin di ou sa.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• schape

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French chape, from Latin cappa. Doublet of cappe and cope.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃaːp(ə)/

Noun

chape (plural chapes)

1. A metal cover or mounting, especially the chape of a scabbard.

Descendants

• English: chape

References

• “chāpe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Norman

Alternative forms

• capé (continental Normandy)
• chapé (Guernsey, Jersey)

Etymology

From Old French chapel, from Early Medieval Latin cappellus, diminutive from Late Latin cappa.

Noun

chape m (plural chapes)

1. (Sark) hat

Old French

Alternative forms

• cape (Old Northern French)

Etymology

From Late Latin cappa.

Noun

chape oblique singular, f (oblique plural chapes, nominative singular chape, nominative plural chapes)

1. cape (sleeveless garment)

Related terms

• chapel
• chapele
• eschaper

Descendants

• French: chape
• → Middle English: chape, schape
  • English: chape
• →⇒ Old East Slavic: шапка (šapka) (see there for further descendants)
• →⇒ Polish: czapka

Portuguese

Verb

chape

1. inflection of chapar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Etymology 1

Noun

chape m (plural chapes)

1. tress, braid

Etymology 2

Verb

chape

1. inflection of chapar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “chape”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28