From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishchattelchat‧tel /ˈtʃætl/ noun [countable] OWN law old-fashioned a piece of personal property that you can move from one place to another a society in which women are considered to be chattels → goods and chattels
Examples from the Corpus
chattel• However, the Act abolished detinue, which was wrongful retention of a chattel.• The modern wife is considered more of an equal partner and helpmate than a chattel or a housekeeper.• Goods and chattels and art and inventions.• Woman is not the passive chattel that the tussles of despots, described in the last chapter, have implied.• The 12 cousins then decided that Violet should have £5,000, the testator's chattels and the freehold of the bungalow.• The Bills of Sale Acts do not apply to documents accompanying transactions in which the possession of the chattels passes.• In such cases the sheriff might be ordered to seize the chattels of defaulting regarders.Origin chattel (1200-1300) Old French chatel “property”, from Latin capitalis; → CAPITAL2 