An alternative or archaic term for the position or function of a chaplain, or the area of spiritual responsibility assigned to a chaplain.
From chaplain + -ry (suffix forming nouns denoting place, practice, or collection). This is an older variant of chaplaincy that fell out of common use by the 19th century.
Chaplainry is one of those old English words that lost a popularity contest to chaplaincy—both mean the same thing, but -cy endings became fashionable for abstract nouns while -ry became reserved for places and collections.
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