chapter and verse

Noun

chapter and verse (uncountable)

1. (literally) The chapter number and verse number (within a particular book) that locate a quotation from the Bible.
   • In the other dispute (“Did Jesus anywhere claim to be God?”) the same kind of men—trained and learned clergymen—backed up their arguments with chapter and verse.1907, Mark Twain, Christian Science
2. Specific references from an authoritative book or document, cited to support a statement or position.
   • ‘I deny the first statement,’ said the Good Stockbroker heatedly. He was always heated where questions of morality were concerned, and was proceeding to give chapter and verse for what promised to become a somewhat dull discussion when the Bluestocking firmly interposed in her small staccato...1908, Maud Churton Braby, “Polygamy at the polite dinner-table”, in Modern Marriage and How to Bear It
3. (informal) Very full and detailed information.
   • The main suspect refused to answer any questions, but the police got chapter and verse from his accomplice.
   • She abounded in news of the situation at home, proved to him how perfectly she was arranging for his absence, told him who would take up this and who take up that exactly where he had left it, gave him in fact chapter and verse for the moral that nothing would suffer.1903 September 28, Henry James, The Ambassadors, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC