The Collaborative International Dictionary
Chancel \Chan"cel\, n. [OF. chancel, F. chanceau, cancel, fr. L. cancelli lattices, crossbars. (The chancel was formerly inclosed with lattices or crossbars) See Cancel, v. t.] (Arch.)
That part of a church, reserved for the use of the clergy, where the altar, or communion table, is placed. Hence, in modern use;
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All that part of a cruciform church which is beyond the line of the transept farthest from the main front.
Chancel aisle (Arch.), the aisle which passes on either side of or around the chancel.
Chancel arch (Arch.), the arch which spans the main opening, leading to the chancel.
Chancel casement, the principal window in a chancel.
--Tennyson.Chancel table, the communion table.
Usage examples of "chancel arch".
Its chancel arch can be recognized, with a little imagination, in the Bayeux tapestry.
Christopher with his black beard looking like Will Green, being close to the porch by which we entered, and above the chancel arch the Doom of the last Day, in which the painter had not spared either kings or bishops, and in which a lawyer with his blue coif was one of the chief figures in the group which the Devil was hauling off to hell.
Even at night the sacrifices continued by the light of the sacred fires, that from below gave those who wrought them the appearance of devils flitting through the flames of hell, and inflicting its torments on the damned, much as they are depicted in the 'Doom' painting of the resurrection of the dead that is over the chancel arch in this church of Ditchingham.