| 释义 |
▪ I. cap, n.1|kæp|
Forms: 1 (cappa), cæppe, 3 keppe, 4–6 cappe, (5 cape), 5–7 capp, 6– cap.
[OE. cæppe, a. late L. cappa ‘cap’ (It. cappa, Pr., Sp., Pg. capa, ONF. and Picard cape, F. chape, all meaning ‘cloak, cape, or cope’). Isidore, a. 636, has (xix. xxxi. 3, De ornamentis capitis feminarum) ‘cappa..quia capitis ornamentum est’; Diez cites cappa from a document of 660, and an ancient gloss ‘cappa mitra’. Med.L. used indiscriminately cappa and capa (the latter, however, much more frequently), and commonly in the sense of ‘cloak, cope’; Chron. Treverti anno 1146, has ‘caracalla (i.e. a long cloak with a hood) quam nunc capam vocamus’. The presumption is that the name was transferred from a woman's cap, hood, or head-covering, as Isidore used it, to the ‘hood’ of a cloak, and then to a cloak or ‘cape’ having such a hood, and thus to a priest's ‘cope’. The sense ‘head-covering, cap, hat’ was at an early period in Romanic appropriated by the dim. cappellum, -ellus, in It. cappello, Sp. capelo, Pr. capel, OF. capel, chapel, F. chapeau, ‘hat’. (The sense ‘little or short cloak’ was retained by the fem. dim. cappella, capella, It. cappella, Pr., Pg. capella, Sp. capilla, ONF. capelle, F. chapelle, until this received the curiously transferred sense chapel, q.v.)
An explanation of capa, from capere to take, ‘quia quasi totum capiat hominem’ (because it takes as it were the whole man) is erroneously cited by Du Cange, and many after him, from Isidore. It is really from Papias c 1053; and is manifestly a ‘popular etymology’ of a late age, after the application had passed from ‘cap’ to ‘cloak with a hood’. (Mahn thinks that cappa may be of Iberian origin.) The evidence of OE. is important, since it points to two distinct L. types, viz. cappa (which gave cæppe, cappe, cap), and cāpa which gave cāpe, cōpe; the latter is also witnessed by Icel. kápa ‘cowled cloak, cloak with a hood’: see cope.
It looks as if cappa, the living Romanic form, was first adopted in Eng. (say from Italy) in its 7th c. sense, and gave cæppe, and that at a later time cāpa, so common in med.L., was introduced specially for the ecclesiastical dress. The latter is not actually evidenced in OE., but it occurs in Layamon, and was in the language early enough to undergo the phonetic change of OE. á into ME. ō. OHG. (late) had chappa ‘cloak with a hood’; so MHG. kappe, MDu. cappe (both rarely in sense ‘cap’); modG. kappe, Du. kap ‘cap’.
Words to be distinguished are (1) Cap, OE. cæppe, L. cappa; (2) Cap, Sc. dial. form of cop (like tap, stap, for top, stop); (3) Cape, early ME. form of cope, retained in north. dial. and Sc. as cape, caip (cf. early ME. and north. pape, Sc. paip = pope); (4) Cape, mod.Eng., from F. cape, Sp. capa cloak, the same word in origin as 3, but re-introduced in a new connexion; (5) Cape, F. cap, It. capo headland; (6) Cop, OE. cop, copp top, summit, also cup; (7) Cope, early ME. cāpe, Icel. kápa, L. cāpa. In ME. cape also occasionally appears for cappe, cap.]
I. A covering for the head.
1. A hood, a covering for the head. (Precise sense not definable; in first quot. still in Latin form.)
c1000ælfric Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 152 Capitulum uel capitularium, heafod-claþ uel cappa. a1100Ags. Voc. ibid. 328 Cappa, cæppe.
†2. A cloak with a hood; a cape or cope. (But prob. cappa here is really Latin, and not OE.)
a1000Ags. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 200 Caracalla, cappa.
3. A head-dress for women, varying according to fashion and taste. In later times a light covering of muslin, or the like, for the head, ordinarily worn indoors, or under a bonnet. Cf. mob-cap.
a1225Ancr. R. 420 Ȝif ȝe muwen beon wimpel leas, beoð bi warme keppen. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. iii. 70 Ile haue no bigger, this doth fit the time, And Gentlewomen weare such caps as these. 1598B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum., Our great heads..never were in safety Since our wives wore these little caps. c1830Mrs. Sherwood Houlston Tracts III. No. 67. 7 My lady's maid..with a fly cap, and a hat all puffed about with pea-green ribands. 1872Ruskin Eagle's Nest §153 The quaint cap surrounds..the courtly and patient face. 1883Lloyd Ebb & Flow II. 201 Count the nuns' caps and handkerchiefs. Mod. She insists on all the maids wearing caps.
4. a. A head-dress of men and boys: commonly applied to every kind of ordinary male head-dress which is not called a ‘hat’, from which it is distinguished by not having a brim, and by being usually of some soft material; also to a number of official, professional, and special head-dresses.
1382Wyclif Ex. xxiii. 14 [Men with] cappis died, or steyned, in the heedis of hem. c1430Freemasonry 697 When thou comest by-fore a lorde..Hod or cappe that thou of do. c1450Nominale in Wr.-Wülcker 735 Hic pilius, a cape. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cxix. 142 He toke of his cap and saluted the duke. 1553Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 22 Some [weare] high cappes lyke myters, of redde colour. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, iii. vii. 35 Some followers of mine owne..hurld vp their Caps, And.. cry'd, God saue King Richard. 1662Fuller Worthies iv. 50 The best caps were formerly made at Monmouth, where the Cappers Chappel doth still remain. 1663Butler Hud. i. iii. 1151 Black Caps, underlaid with White, Give certain guess at inward Light. 1742Middleton Cicero III. ix. 6 note, A Cap was always given to Slaves, when they were made free, whence it became the emblem of liberty. 1772Hartford Mercury Suppl. 18 Sept. 1/1 The Swedes were divided into two parties, distinguished by the names of Hats and Caps. Mod. Hats and caps of every shape.
b. Used contextually instead of college cap (esp. in phrase cap and gown), night-cap, skull-cap, or other specific sense: see e.
1611Cotgr., Calotte..a little light cap, or night-cap, worne vnder a hat. a1656Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 242 We hold the head uncovered if the hat be off, though the cap be on. 1807Southey Espriella's Lett. II. 63 The caps and tassels of the students. 1835Hood Poetry, Prose, & Worse xxix, Judge Park appears dreadfully prosy While dooming to death in his Cap. 1857‘C. Bede’ Verdant Green 341 While Mr. Green was paying for the cap and gown. Mod. Do we appear in cap and gown? Is it a cap-and-gown affair?
c. A helmet or headpiece: also cap of fence.
1530Palsgr. 202/2 Cappe of fence, segrette de maille. 1580Sidney Let. in Arb. Garner I. 309 When you play at weapons, I would have you get thick caps and bracers. 1839E. D. Clarke Trav. 50/1 Their cap or helmet is the most beautiful part of the costume. 1874Boutell Arms & Arm. ix. 161.
d. ‘The ensign of the cardinalate’ (J.); a cardinal's biretta.
1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. i. 33 If once he come to be a Cardinall Hee'l make his cap coequal with the Crowne. 1666Lond. Gaz. No. 26/2 The Pope expects more windfalls before he will give any Caps. 1670G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. iii. 74 He puts on the red Cap upon their heads..with these words, Esto Cardinalis. 1795Southey Vis. Maid of Orleans ii. 276 These..in scarlet, and in caps Like cardinals, I see. 1864Burton Scot Abr. II. i. 69 It would have proved..as fatal..as another such like cap..had done to..Cardinal Betoun.
e. With some qualifying word, indicative of shape, origin, or character; as black cap, q.v.; college cap, square cap, that worn by academics, which in its present shape is also popularly styled trencher cap, or mortar-board, and in its earlier form is called in Scottish Universities the John Knox cap (see also cater-cap); forked cap, a mitre; † great cap (see quot.); † Monmouth cap (see quot. 1662 in 4): Scotch cap, the cloth cap worn with the Highland dress; also various recent modifications of that pattern; † spiced cap, ? a cap lined with a blister for the head; † statute cap, a cap of wool ordered by statute (see quot. 1571) to be worn by citizens on holydays for the benefit of the cappers' trade; hence, cap of wool, taken as the mark of a tradesman or citizen. Also cricket-cap, polo-cap, football-cap. And see cater-cap, nightcap, skull-cap, etc.
1514Barclay Cyt. & Uplondysh. (1847) Introd. 66 With forked cappes it folly is to mell. 1571Act 13 Eliz. xix, Euery person..shall wear vpon the Sabbath and holy day..vpon their head a Cap of Wooll knit thicked and dressed in England. 1582in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 430 Scottyshe cappes partelie colored. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 281 Well, better wits have worne plain statute caps. 1599― Hen. V, iv. vii. 103 The Welchmen did good service..wearing Leekes in their Monmouth caps. 1605Marston Dutch Courtezan (N.) Though my husband be a citizen, and his cap's made of wool, yet I have wit. 1689R. Davies Jrnl. (1857) 51 It was concluded..to put on a spiced cap by order of Dr. Willis for amaurosis. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 193 Sampson..was an enemy..to the square cap. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. i. §11 Philosophers in square caps and long gowns. 1751Chambers Cycl. s.v., Churchmen, and the members of universities..wear square caps. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Cap or great Cap, a denomination of a kind of compendious bandage, serving for almost all occasions of the head, being in figure not unlike a helmet. 1873Edin. Univ. Calendar 174 Cap of black silk velvet after the John Knox fashion. 1885Cornh. Mag. July, Court Royal, A silk cassock, red hood, and college cap.
f. spec. the cap, of a special form or colour, denoting selection as a member of a representative team, crew, etc.; hence, one who is awarded such a cap. Cf. cap v.1 1 c.
1879Boy's Own Paper 18 Jan. 1/3, I..was despairing of ever rising to win my ‘first fifteen cap’. 1889Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang I. 367/1 At Rugby when the school played football in white ducks, the probation ‘caps’ were allowed to wear flannels. 1895Cassell's Family Mag. June 518/2 He may possibly be one of the crew, and the vision of the Light Blue cap flits before his enraptured eyes. 1902Football Who's Who 1901–2 133 Cowan, James... Earned caps and medals galore. 1906Gibson & Pickford Assoc. Football IV. 28 He was eight seasons with the grand old club, and won his English cap. 1955Times 10 Aug. 4/4 A brilliant first wood by Coulson, who gained his England cap this season.
g. cap of maintenance: (a) see maintenance; (b) A cap borne as one of the insignia of office before the sovereign of England at the coronation, and before mayors of some cities; (c) in Her. A cap borne as a charge, or in place of a wreath, so cap of dignity, estate, honour, state. cap of liberty or Phrygian bonnet: the conical cap given in the Roman times to slaves on emancipation, and often used as a republican symbol. cap and bauble, cap and bells: the insignia of the fool or jester: cf. fool's cap. cap and feather days: the days of childhood.
1489Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 2 A capp of mayntenance brought from Rome to the Kinge. 1528Tindale Obed. Chr. Man Wks. I. 186 For their labour he [the pope] giveth to some a rose; to another a cap of maintenance. 1610J. Guillim Heraldry vi. v. (1660) 400 This kind of Headtire is called a Cap of dignity. 1632Massinger City Mad. iv. i, The cap of maintenance and city sword Borne up in state before him. 1663Butler Hud. i. iii. 1067 For who without a Cap and Bauble..Would put it to a second proof. 1709Addison Tatler No. 161 ⁋4 The Genius of a Common-wealth, with the Cap of Liberty on her Head. 1752Carte Hist. Eng. III. 191 The Earl of Surrey had re-assumed them, putting over them..a cap of maintenance purple with powdered furr. 1766Porny Heraldry (1787) Gloss., Chapeau..an antient Cap of Dignity, formerly worn by Nobility, being made of crimson Velvet in the outside, and lined with fur. 1821in Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 50 Here I was got into the scenes of my cap-and-feather days! 1851Layard Nineveh 97 The head dress of the Persian Monarchs appears to have resembled the Phrygian Bonnet or the French Cap of Liberty. 1874Boutell Arms & Arm. x. 201 In this example [crested helm of King Richard II.] the lion-crest stands upon a ‘cap of dignity’. 1884Punch 1 Mar. 100 Where last he shook the cap and bells.
h. From the custom of uncovering the head (abridged to ‘raising’ or merely ‘touching’ the cap) in sign of reverence, respect, or courtesy, come many expressions, such as to come with cap in hand, also cap-in-hand, attrib. phr., † with cap and knee, bareheaded and bowing or kneeling, † with cap and courtship, or † cap and curtsey; and also the contextual use of cap, for the raising of the cap, respectful salute.
1565Golding Ovid's Met. i. (1593) 3 No man would crouch..to Judge with cap in hand. 1573G. Harvey Letter-bk. (1884) 5 Neither afording me a word, nor a cap. 1581Marbeck Bk. of Notes 1189 They shall have cappe and knee, and many gaye good morrowes in this lyfe. 1598E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 44 Cap and courtship complements. 1600Holland Livy ix. xx. 328 They..importuned them..with cap and cursie. 1675Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 486 Oh the caps, knees, and bows that Haman had. 1679Penn Addr. Prot. i. 14 It [Apparel] opens Doors..carries away the Cap and the Knee from most other pretences. 1702Eng. Theophrast. 109 A cap or a smile perhaps will serve to gain us the reputation of the opposite Virtues. 1887Pall Mall G. 23 Feb. 3 Suppose that it went cap in hand to every Government in Europe. 1889C. M. Yonge in Monthly Packet Xmas 33, I don't care for those cap-in-hand ways of your people here. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 29 Mar. 109/1 A more militant approach is called for and an end to this cap-in-hand begging for fair play.
i. fig. (with some sense of top).
1607Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 363 Thou art the Cap Of all the Fooles aliue.
5. In names of plants, as friar's cap, soldier's cap, Turk's cap, for which see these words.
6. slang. (From the expression ‘to send round the cap (or hat) for an improvised collection’) = cap-money (see 19).
1851Eureka; Sequel Ld. Russell's Post Bag 21 What amount of Cap is realized out of an average field? 1902Westm. Gaz. 9 Dec. 3/2 Masters of Hounds are naturally averse to that method of enriching their treasuries which consists in taking a ‘cap’ from strangers. 1928Daily Mail 5 Nov. 12/3 If a visitor goes out with a pack like the Quorn he will have to pay a cap of {pstlg}3 3s. per day. 1970Daily Tel. 30 Jan. 19/6 The annual subscription to ride with the Exmoor Foxhounds is going up from {pstlg}25 to {pstlg}30 and the cap for visitors will be {pstlg}3 instead of {pstlg}2.
7. = Head; as in quot. 1659 in 9, and in such combs. as fuddle-, huff-cap.
8. Short for cap-paper.
1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. (N.) Dunghill rags..May be advanc'd aloft to sheets of cap. 1751Chambers Cycl. s.v. Paper, Papers..may be divided..with regard to use..into cap, cartridge, copy, etc. 1874Knight Dict. Mech. s.v., Flat cap is 14 × 17 inches; double cap is 17 × 28; foolscap and legal cap are of various sizes. 1875Ure Dict. Arts III. 497 Under the characteristic names of coarse papers may be mentioned: Kent cap, 21 by 18; bag cap, 19½ by 24; Havon cap, 21 by 26; imperial cap, 22½ by 29.
9. Phrases. † to cast one's cap at: to show indifference to, give up for lost. † to come, fall under, lie in one's cap: to occur to, be in one's mind. to put on one's thinking or considering cap: to take time for thinking over something. the cap fits: the description or remark suits or is felt to suit (a particular person). to pull caps: to quarrel, wrangle, struggle together (? in a noisy or undignified way). to set one's cap at: (colloq.) said of a woman who sets herself to gain the affections of a man. † to have one's cap set, to have (enough) under one's cap: to be intoxicated. to throw up one's cap: i.e. in token of joy. † if your cap be of wool: as sure as your cap is of wool. And other obvious proverbial phrases, such as my cap is better at ease than my head, ready as a borrower's cap, etc.
1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 136 My cap is better at ease then my hed. 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 824/2 Hauing cast their caps into y⊇ winde (as the prouerbe is) thinke no harme can touch them. 1582Long Meg of Westminster (N.) Vicar..I'le make thee pay every farthing, if thy cap be of wooll. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. i. 196 He that throwes not vp his cap for ioy. 1597― 2 Hen. IV, ii. ii. 125 The answer is as ready as a borrowers cap. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Prendre, La pluye le prendra, he will be well whitled, his cap will be set. 1624Bp. R. Montagu Gagg. 61 Goe cast your cap then at Peter's primacy from confirming his Brethren. a1637B. Jonson T. Tub ii. ii. (N.) Slip, you will answer it, an if your cap be of wool. 1657R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 42 They fall back, and put on their considering caps. a1659Osborn Observ. Turks (1673) Pref. 4 It lies not in my Cap to apprehend. 1719D'Urfey Pills III. 52 He..casts his Cap, At the Court and her Cares. a1734North Ld. Guilford (1808) I. 84 (D.) It fell not under every one's cap to give so good advice. Ibid. II. 32 The reasons were special, and such as come not under every cap. 1749Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure i. 99 Oh! he was such a beauty!..they would pull caps for him! 1754Richardson Let. 12 Sept. (1804) v. 27 She scrupled not..to pull caps in good-humoured roguery. 1755Mem. Capt. P. Drake II. v. 188 Mr. Miller, to show the Cap fitted him, made a Stroke with his Cane..at me. 1773Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. i. i, Instead of breaking my heart at his indifference, I'll..set my cap to some newer fashion, and look out for some less difficult admirer. 1785Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ode to R. A.'s x. Wks. 1812 I. 100 Our lofty Duchesses pull caps, And give each other's reputation raps. 1806― Tristia Wks. 1812 V. 341 Seven cities of the Grecian world Pull'd wigs, pull'd caps. 1816‘Quiz’ Grand Master iii. 55 If the cap fits him, he may wear it. 1822Byron Juan xi. lxxx, Some, who once set their caps at cautious dukes. 1830Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 195 Men are exhorted to struggle and pull caps. 1839De Quincey War Wks. IV. 272 They could not have caused a war by pulling caps with each other. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair I. iii, That girl is setting her cap at you. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt (1868) 38 If anybody shows himself offended, he'll put the cap on for himself.
II. Things of similar shape, position, or use.
* Of things natural.
10. a. A cap-like covering of any kind; spec. the pileus or head of a mushroom, the patella or small bone protecting the knee-joint (knee-cap); a cloud resting on a mountain top. b. A top stratum or layer, esp. when harder than that which it covers; a capping. c. A cap-like top.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. lxxxi. (1495) 653 Somme plantis beere sede in harde shales and in cappys wythout aboue the shalys: as nottes and other suche. 1664Power Exp. Philos. ii. 92 The little Cap of Air in the obtuse end of an Egge. 1671Grew Anat. Plants i. vi. §8 In a Nut..there are three general Parts, the Cap, Shell, and Pith. 1678Phil. Trans. XII. 1052 The Mine..lies twenty yards under a surface or Cap of Earth. 1762Hudson in ibid. LII. 496 Part of the base of one of the Fungi..rests on the pileus, or cap of the other. 1767Sterne Tr. Shandy IX. xxxi, A wound upon the cap of a man's knee. 1791Smeaton Edystone L. §108 The merchantable Beds are universally covered with a Stratum called the Cap, which is formed entirely of a congeries of petrified sea-shells. 1839Murchison Silur. Syst. i. xxxvii. 516 The present form of the hills has alone been preserved by caps of semi-conglomerate cornstone. 1856Longfellow Twilight, Like the wings of sea-birds Flash the white caps of the sea. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. §15. 101 On looking towards the æggischorn we found a [cloud] cap upon its crest. 1865Lubbock Preh. Times xii. (1878) 426 The ice cap at the Antarctic Pole.
d. Ornith. The pileum or top of a bird's head, especially when distinctively coloured. Cf. black cap 3.
1889in Cent. Dict. 1890Coues Ornith. 142 ‘Top of the head’ is a collective term for all the upper surface, from base of bill to nape, and laterally to about the level of the upper border of the eyes; this is the pileum or ‘cap’..; it is divided into three portions.
e. The calyptra of mosses.
1864Oliver Elem. Bot. 281 The sporange is covered at first by a cap (calyptra). 1900B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms.
** Of things artificial: general and technical.
11. a. A cap-shaped part forming or covering the top of various things, e.g. of a thimble, furnace, etc.; the movable upper story of a windmill, the outer covering of a bee-hive, an extra box or case added on the top of a hive, the upper half of a journal-box (the lower half being the pillow).
1609C. Butler Fem. Mon. (1634) 39 The Head [of the hive] is to be covered and bound fast with a Cap. 1674Ray Smelt. Silver Coll. 114 The refining Furnace is covered with a thick cap of stone. 1693Sir T. Blount Nat. Hist. 293 Full of little Pit-Holes, like the Cap of a Thimble. 1783Phil. Trans. LXXIII. 452 The cap of the receiver. 1867F. Francis Angling i. (1880) 10 Take off the cap of the float. 1881Mechanic §970 The roof should be ornamented at its very apex by a cap.
b. The tire of lead and tin on the periphery of a glazing wheel.
c. (Also blue cap.) In coal-mining, a circle of bluish flame appearing above and around the wick of a safety lamp when a dangerous quantity of fire-damp is present.
1877Encycl. Brit. VI. 72/2 When a lighted candle is exposed in a non-explosive mixture of this gas [sc. fire-damp], the flame gradually elongates, forming a conical cap, floating above the wick. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-m. s.v. Blue Cap, To carry on work in an atmosphere which shows a cap is unsafe. 1887Good Words 99/1 The marsh gas is revealed..by the appearance of what is known as a ‘cap’ upon the flame. 1893Lupton Mining 248 If there is 2 per cent. of fire-damp in the atmosphere, a small blue-cap may be observed.
12. A cap-like cover or similar part on the end of anything.
E.g. of a magnetic needle, a portable telescope, the lens of a camera; also the iron-banded piece on the end of a wooden pump-rod by which it is connected with a working-beam; the band of leather, etc. in a flail through which the middle-band passes = caplin; the metal on the butt-end of fire-arms; a covering of tarred canvas on the end of a ship rope; an extra covering on the toe of a boot or shoe (= toe-cap); small pieces of leather used to confine temporary pins or bolts in carriages.
c1440Promp. Parv. 61 Cappe of a fleyle, meditentum. 1530Palsgr. 203/1 Cappe of a flayle. 1680Lond. Gaz. No. 1532/4 A Pair of French Pistols..the Stocks of Maple, Silver Side-plates, and Silver Caps. 1747Knight in Phil. Trans. XLIV. 658 These [magnetic] needles..weighed..with their caps 7 pennyweight. 1794W. Felton Carriages (1801) Gloss., Pole pin caps, etc. 1870Eng. Mech. 18 Mar. 661/3 Designs..suitable for the toe-caps of boots. 1876J. Hiles Catech. Organ iv. (1878) 25 The cap [of a wood organ pipe] is a piece of hard wood at the lower end of the pipe, covering the block. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. III. 99 When the camera has been placed in position..the cap of the lens should be removed. a1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Cap, a short terminal section of a pipe, with a removable stopper called a plug. 1885Law Rep. XV. Queen's B. Div. 359 A metal cap was put over the shaft.. The cap kept the shaft in its place. 1886Cassell's Fam. Mag. 638/1 An outer cap protecting the point [of a fountain pen]. 1895Burns Gloss. Techn. Terms 18 Cap and lining, in gasfitters' work a joint used for connecting a composition pipe to an iron pipe. 1958M. L. Hall Newnes Compl. Amat. Photogr. 110 Large flashbulbs are fitted with an ES(E27) cap and smaller types with an ASCC(B15s) cap.
13. a. A cap-like covering; a cover or case.
E.g. a nipple or breast-cap; the inner case, which encloses the movements in some forms of watches; in a cannon = apron; the cover of a headband or the envelope of a book while binding.
1688R. Holme Armoury iii. xii. §18 A Brest Cap, or Nipple Cap..is made of silver in shape like an hat. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. s.v., They call also that Piece of Lead which is put over the Touch-hole of a great Gun, to keep the Prime from being wasted or spilt, the Cap of the Gun. 1883Leisure Ho. 244/2 Sewing the ‘caps’, or covers, on to the bales [of wool]. 1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 4 The cap covers the escapement and balance. 1902Westm. Gaz. 4 June 5/1 The effect of fitting shot or shell with a forged steel cap. 1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §254 Cap maker (electric lamps); a draw press hand making brass caps for electric lamps in a die press.
b. A small conical paper bag for holding groceries, etc., made by twisting up a sheet of paper; a ‘cornet’.
c. Mining. in (the) cap: see quots.
[1871R. W. Raymond Mines of Pacific States 313 The ‘cap’, a term usually employed to express the impoverished condition of the vein, may be due either to the pinching together of the walls of the fissure, or..to the filling of the vein with barren rock.] a1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. s.v., A vein is ‘in the cap’ when it is much contracted. 1889P. Milford Dict. Mining Terms (ed. 2) 14 A mine when the vein matter is barren or when the vein is pinched, or contracted, is said to be ‘in cap’. c1931G. F. Willison Here they dug Gold vii. 122 Most of the hard-rock mines are in cap.
d. A contraceptive device, usu. made of rubber, covering the neck of the womb. Cf. Dutch cap.
1916Declining Birth-Rate ii. 247 A woman..will sometimes wear a cap over the neck of the womb, which takes the place, in the female, of the ‘letters’ that men wear. 1918M. C. Stopes Wise Parenthood iii. 18 The great advantage of this cap is that once it is in and properly fitted it can be entirely forgotten. 1935E. F. Griffith Mod. Marriage iv. 86 There are numberless caps on the market, most of which are made of rubber and vary considerably in thickness. 1970Sunday Times 15 Mar. 50/4 Like the pill, the diaphragm, or cap..are used almost entirely by the more prosperous sections of the community.
14. a. = gun cap, percussion cap: A cap-shaped piece of copper lined with a fulminating composition, used to ignite the powder in fire-arms.
c1826Wellington in Mem. R. Davenport-Hill 231 ‘Croker, you may understand the battle of Waterloo, but I'll be d―d if you know anything of copper caps!’ 1844Regul. & Ord. Army 112 note, Copper caps [will be charged for] at the rate of ten shillings a thousand. 1868Sat. Rev. No. 652. 561/2 Sometimes the caps would not explode; sometimes there were no caps at all. 1886Manch. Exam. 6 Jan. 5/2 The cap missed fire.
b. The paper percussion cap of a toy pistol; = amorce.
1872C. M. Yonge P's & Q's ii. 13 He was only just exploding a few caps to teach the child to stand fire. 1877Design & Work III. 521/3 Those small caps..called French amorgies. 1883[see amorce]. 1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §149 Snap cap maker, tends machine which makes snap caps, for toy pistols.
15. A part laid horizontally or flat along the top of various structures.
E.g. a horizontal beam joining the heads of a row of piles in a timber bridge, or the tops of a row of posts in a frame, a plate; the handrail of a balustrade, or of a stair railing; the lintel of a door or window frame; a piece of wood laid upon another in order to bring it up to a required height; the hood-sheaves of a shock of corn.
1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 151 If the Board be too thin, they underlay that Board upon every Joyst with a Cap. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. xiii. §78 The first is a Wall with a Cap or Head over the Door. 1790W. Marshall Midl. Counties (E.D.S.) Caps, hoodsheaves of cornshucks. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 103 Caps, square pieces of oak, laid upon the upper blocks on which the ship is built, to receive the keel.
16. Arch. The uppermost part of any assemblage of principal parts.
E.g. the capital of a column, the cornice of a room, the capping or uppermost member of the surbase of a room, etc.
1870F. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 50 The pillars are cylindrical; their caps primitively fluted. Ibid. 110 Its pillars..from floor to cap, are hexagonal.
17. Naut. A strong thick block of wood, having two large holes through it, used to hold two masts together, when one is erected at the head of the other in order to lengthen it (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.). cap of a block: see quot. 1794.
1626Capt. Smith Seaman's Accid. 28 Strike your top masts to the cap. 1692― Seaman's Gram. xvi. 77 To lower or strike the Flag, is to pull it down upon the Cap. 1762–9Falconer Shipwr. iii. 583 The..stay Drags the main top-mast by the cap away. 1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 150 Cap, a semi-circular projection from the sides and round the end of a block above the pin; through it two holes are bored..through [which] the strap is passed, to prevent its being chafed. 1840R. Dana Bef. Mast xxxv. 132 Rigging all let go..topsail yards down upon the caps. c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 75 The lower caps are usually made of oak, with an iron band round them.
III. attrib. and in comb.
18. General relations:
a. simple attrib., as cap-badge, cap-border, cap-box, cap-peak, cap-pocket, cap-priming, cap-riband, cap-string, cap-strip, cap-worship;
b. appositive, ‘formed or acting as a cap’, as cap-glass, cap-house, cap-piece, cap-roof, cap-sill;
c. objective gen., as cap-knitter, cap-maker, cap-making, cap-setting;
d. adjs., as capless, cap-ended, cap-roofed.
1897Sears, Roebuck Catal. 236/2 Nickel Plated *Cap Badges. a1916‘Saki’ Square Egg (1924) 124 Men of divers variety of cap badges. 1969D. Lambert Angels in Snow xii. 152 His Army cap badge, a couple of Service ribbons.
1878Mrs. Stowe Poganuc P. xxii. 246 A thin old delicate face, with its aureole of white hair and its transparent *cap-border.
1798W. Felton Carriages (1801) I. 219 A *Cap-Box is a case made convenient for carrying ladies' head-dresses safe.
1882Vines Sachs' Bot. 145 Every such segment belonging to a root-cap is hence termed simply a *Cap-cell.
1843Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. IV. ii. 365 *Cap-ended, that is, having no gables.
1660Sharrock Vegetables 12 Those that use *Cap-Glasses..straw, litter, or the like.
1861C. Innes Sk. Early Sc. Hist. 443 A square keep surmounted by a *cap-house.
1465in Ripon Ch. Acts 120 Marjoria Claton, *cappeknytter. 1600Heywood Edw. IV, i. ii. ii, All kings or cap-knitters!
1840Galt Demon of Dest. viii. 53 His hoary hair streamed *capless.
c1440York Myst. xxiv, The .*Cappemakers. 1488–9Act 4 Hen. VII, ix, Hatmakers and Kapmakers doth sell their hattes and cappes at suche an outrageous price. 1713Lond. Gaz. No. 5182/4 The Cap-makers of Bewdley.
1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 405 Each pier is composed of seven sticks of oak timber, united by a *cap-piece.
1844Regul. & Ord. Army 92 With a view to the preservation of the *Cap Pockets, they are..to be carried inside the Pouch, over the Ammunition.
1879G. Macdonald Sir Gibbie xxi. 112 A turret with a conical *cap-roof.
1882Society 30 Dec. 12/2 Caught by a *cap-setting woman.
1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 263 Beautiful, in spite of age, and *cap-strip, and neckcloth, and spectacles.
1630Sanderson Serm. II. 262 The knee-worship, and the *cap-worship, and the lip-worship they may have that are in worshipful places.
19. Special combs.: cap-bar Spinning, an attachment to a drawing-frame supporting the bearings of draft rolls; † cap-castle, the chief village of a district; cap-cell Bot. (see quot. 1900); cap-frame, a type of spinning-frame in which the guide for the yarn takes the form of a cap; cap-gun = cap-pistol; cap-head (Mining), a top placed upon an air-box, used in sinking, etc.; capland (see quot.); cap-man, a cap-maker; a man who inspects the lamps attached to miners' caps; cap-money (see quot.); cap-pistol, a toy pistol which fires caps (sense 14 b); cap-pudding, a pudding containing plums or currants which form a black top or cap to it when it is served up; cap-ribbon, a band round a sailor's cap bearing the name of his ship; cap rock Geol., an overlying rock or stratum; see also quot. 1956; cap-screw = tap-bolt (s.v. tap n.1 8); cap-scuttle (see quot.); cap-sea (see quot.); cap-sheaf, the top sheaf of a shock or stook, also fig.; cap-shore (see quot.); cap-sick a., ? brain-sick, intoxicated; cap-square, † -squire (see quot.); cap-tally Naut. slang, = cap-ribbon; see also quot. 1946.
1897W. S. Taggart Cotton Spinning II. 91 It was formerly the practice to make the *cap bars of cast-iron. 1898Ibid. III. 241 The cap bar, for keeping the top rollers in position, is pivoted..so that it can readily be moved over out of the way when the rollers require attention.
1664Spelman s.v. Metrocomiae, Et nos in Gallia Narbonensi Metrocomias nunc *Capcastles appellamus.
1882*Cap-cell [in N.E.D.]. 1900B. D. Jackson Gloss. Bot. Terms, Cap Cells, the upper sister-cells of the embryo-sac in the ovule which are compressed as the embryo-sac develops and for a time figure as a cap on its apex.
1884W. S. B. McLaren Spinning 160 For fine Botany yarns the *cap frame is always employed. 1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §365 Spinner, cap; cap frame tenter; minds a spinning frame in which guide over spindle is in form of a cap.
1931Kansas City Star 22 July, They had bought two ice cream cones, a *cap gun, [etc.]. 1949J. R. Cole It was so Late 71 Once he had brought him an old cap-gun.
1819Edin. Rev. XXXII. 10 *Cap-land..was held by the oaths of seven recognitors.
1647in Rushw. Hist. Col. iv. II. 974 Two Thousand *Cap-Men from Bewdly. 1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §047 Capman; a lampman who attends to lamps attached to miners' caps; used only in a non-fiery mine.
1847–78Halliwell, *Capmoney, money gathered for the huntsman at the death of the fox.
1920I. E. Ostrander How many Cards? 8, I found a gat on him that's like a toy *cap pistol compared to that gun lying there. 1962A. Lejeune Duel in Shadows xii. 176 The shots sounded no louder than a child's cap-pistol.
1917‘Taffrail’ Little Ship 20 At least ten thousand men must wear the H.M.S. Victory *cap-ribbon. 1960Times 2 Apr. 8/7 The officer-of-the-watch moves down the line, his glance taking in every man, shoes to cap-ribbon.
1867O. J. Hollister Mines of Colorado 64 The quartz and *cap or wall-rock. 1874R. W. Raymond Statistics Mines, 6th Rep. i. 317 The barren, or ‘cap rock’, now met with at the water-line in that mine. 1956J. C. Swayne Gloss. Geogr. Terms 30 Cap-rock, (a) a stratum of resistant rock covering another of less resistant material; (b) the rock cover over the top of a salt-plug; (c) unproductive rock covering valuable ore. 1958New Scientist 30 Jan. 8/3 If there exists suitable limestone or sandstone to form a reservoir rock, with an impervious ‘cap-rock’ layer above it, all the conditions for an oil field will be present.
a1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Cap Screw, a machine screw with a cubical head, used for screwing on the cylinder head.
c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 103 A *cap scuttle, a framing composed of coamings and head-ledges raised above the deck, with a flap or top which shuts closely over into a rabbet.
1880Andrews Daring Voy. 135 Their course took them into the ‘*Cap Seas’, or ‘Rolling Forties’ of Sailors, to the south and eastward of the Grand Banks.
1782S. Baldwin in S. E. Baldwin Life & Lett. (1919) 106 The whole was crown'd with a *cap-shief of Albany politeness. 1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 793 These [hattocks]..are exposed to the action of the sun and air by taking off the hood, or cap-sheaves, in the day-time. 1851H. Melville Whale xlv. 296 The placing the cap-sheaf to all this blundering business was reserved for..Cuvier. 1873M. E. Holley My Opinions & Betsey Bobbet's 337 Of all the painted..critters I ever see, she was the cap sheaf.
1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 8 *Capshore, a support under the forepart of a lower cap.
1619H. Hutton Follies Anat. (1842) 9, I could..tell a tale should..make them startle; fain themselves *cap-sick.
1611Cotgr., Clavette..also the *Capsquire, or Fore-locke of the carriage of a Canon. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn., Cap-Squares, are broad Pieces of Iron, on each side of the Carriage of a great Gun, and lock'd over the Trunnions of the Piece with an Iron Pin: Their use is to keep the Piece from flying out of the Carriage when 'tis shot off with its Mouth lying very low.
1944J. Irving Naval Life 27 The ‘*cap-tally’ with the ship's name on it is derived from the old-time sailor's habit of tying ribbons in his hat. 1946― Royal Navalese 47 Cap-tally pint, a tankard of beer in which deliberate short measure is concealed under a mound of froth. 1960Times 2 Apr. 8/7 A grubby lanyard, over-bright collar, flamboyant bow on the cap-tally—these can mean you've missed the first boat.
▸ fig. An imposed upper limit or maximum, esp. in a financial context. Cf. ceiling n. 6d.
1947Mansfield (Ohio) News-Jrnl. 7 Feb. 1/2 (heading) Congressional leaders near agreement on 32 billion dollar cap on spending. 1974Monthly Labor Rev. July 29/1 Maximum permissible increases or ‘caps’ are one facet of escalator provisions that have undergone significant changes over time. 1978Newsweek (Nexis) 25 Dec. 43 What it sought was a brake on the growth and the profligacy of government, whether by slashing local taxes as California voters did—or by putting a cap on spending as proposed in a U.S. Constitutional amendment. 1989Banker Feb. 9/3 Caps are mostly used by borrowers who prefer to pay an up-front premium to remain safe rather than sorry. 2005Time 31 Jan. 44/1 The White House..had started to hear complaints about..the President's support for a carbon dioxide emissions cap.
▸ cap sleeve n. orig. U.S. a very short sleeve on a garment, typically covering only the uppermost part of the arm and cut wider at the shoulder than under the arm.
1885Harper's Bazaar 18 July 459/2 The lining of transparent lace..is cut low in the neck..and there are short *cap sleeves set in the armholes. 1947Chicago Sunday Tribune 4 May iii. 6 (advt.) Rayon poplin, styled with arm-baring..cap sleeves. 2005Woman & Home July 32/2 A softer top with cap sleeves that gently cover tops of arms.
▸ cap-sleeved adj. orig. U.S. having or characterized by cap sleeves.
1921Indianapolis Star 16 Jan. 35/2 (advt.) Lace-trimmed yokes, sleeveless and *cap-sleeved styles. 2004Financial Times (Nexis) 13 Oct. 24 The perfect cap-sleeved T-shirt.
▪ II. † cap, n.2 Obs.
Also 6 cappe.
[Etymology uncertain: not easily connected with prec., and being exclusively Eng., it cannot be the Scotch cap n.3]
A closed wooden vessel; a cask.
1519W. Horman Vulg. 19 Valantynys be put and shocked in a close vessell as is a cappe. a1672Wilkins (J.) A barrel or cap, whose cavity will contain eight cubical feet of air, will not serve a diver above a quarter of an hour.
▪ III. cap, n.3 Sc.|kæp, kap|
Also 5 cop, 8–9 caup.
[app. a later Sc. form of cop (as in tap, top, etc.):—OE. copp cup, vessel, or ON. kopp-r cup, small vessel used in the dairy; but the form caup, unless merely phonetic, raises difficulties. A med.L. caupus is rendered by ælfric ‘cuppe’.]
1. A wooden bowl or dish, often with two ears or handles, formerly used as a drinking vessel.
1724Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 91 There will be..brandy in stoups and in caps. c1730Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1818) I. 157 It is often drunk..out of a cap..a wooden dish with two ears or handles about the size of a tea-saucer and as shallow. 1785Burns Holy Fair xxiii, How drink gaed round, in cogs and caups. 1868G. Macdonald R. Falconer I. 272 A good slice of swack cheese with a cap of ale.
b. to kiss caps with: ‘to drink out of the same vessel with’ (Jam.); hence the kiss of a cap. to drink cap-out: to empty: see cop. Also proverb between cap and lip.
1715Let. in Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 115 They..got not so much as the kiss of a caup. 1737Ramsay Sc. Prov. (1776) 53 (Jam.) Meikle may fa' between the cap and the lip. 1818Scott Rob Roy xxix, ‘Drink clean cap-out, like Sir Hildebrand.’ 1879Jamieson Sc. Dict. s.v., ‘I wadna kiss caps wi' sic a fallow.’
2. A measure of quantity: formerly cop, q.v.
1879Jamieson Sc. Dict., Cap, Capfou', Capfu', the fourth part of a peck; as a capfu' o' meal, salt, etc.
3. Comb. cap-ale, ‘a kind of beer between table-beer and ale’ (Jam.); † cap-ambry, a cupboard: see cop-.
1864A. McKay Hist. Kilmarnock 163 Sandy brewed within his own premises the cap-ale.
▪ IV. cap, n.4|kæp|
Also cap., cap'.
Colloq. abbrev. of captain.
1759S. Merriman Diary 21 June in G. Sheldon Hist. Deerfield (1895) I. 662 A covering party, consisting of wone cap, 3 subbs 4 sargents 100 rancks & file. 1840Porter's Spirit of Times (N.Y.) 17 Oct. 391/3 The old cap. wanted to kill one of them varmints. 1902Kipling Traffics & Discov. (1904) 29 ‘Well, Cap,’ I says. 1909Ware Passing Eng. 63/2 Cap, equivalent to ‘Sir’—but really abbreviation of ‘Captain’. Common in America—gaining ground in England. 1933‘L. Luard’ All Hands 252 Where's the cap'?
▪ V. cap, n.5|kæp|
Colloq. abbrev. of capsule. Chiefly U.S.
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §509. 8 Cap, a capsule of narcotics. 1962J. Glenn in Into Orbit 144 The Cap Sep or ‘Capsule Separation’ event. 1963New Society 7 Nov. 11/2 If they were big dope pedlars, they gave you a cap [of heroin] for delivering something.
▪ VI. cap, v.1|kæp|
[f. cap n.1]
1. a. trans. To provide or cover with a cap; to put a cap on (a person, or his head); esp. as the sign of conferring a University degree (in Scotland). Also to cap about.
1483Cath. Angl. 54 To Cappe, cappare. a1529Skelton Elynour Rum. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 479 With her clothes on her hed..like an Egyptian Capped about. 1620Venner Via Recta (1650) 302 Not by over much wrapping and capping the head. 1881Hist. Glasgow lvi. 468 Their royal Highnesses were duly capped. 1883W. C. Smith N. Country Folk 44 When..he was capped, the town Gathered to see him.
b. To put a cap on (the nipple of a gun).
1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxix. 387 While the men were loading and capping anew. 1872Baker Nile Tribut. xviii. 318, I had capped the nipples.
c. To award (a player) his cap (cap n.1 4 f); to select a representative player for a country, etc.
1902Football Who's Who 1901–2 131 He was first capped as far back as 1893 against Ireland. 1963Times 6 Feb. 4/2 Baker, capped five times for England in 1959–60.
2. a. To cover as with a cap or capping.
1602Carew Cornwall 115/2 When the top of Hengsten is capped with a cloud. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 82 To Capp the Bolt-heads with Lead. 1750W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. V. i. 28 Cap, to cover a sheaf at the top. 1853G. Johnston Nat. Hist. E. Bord. I. 109 The turf has been pared off to cap stone-dikes.
b. To cover at the end; to protect the end of.
1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 163 To Cap a rope, to cover the end with tarred canvas. 1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 264 The extremities of beams, etc., have sometimes been capped with pitch. 1857Chambers Inform. People II. 703/1 Capping the end of the oar with the hand has a very awkward appearance.
3. a. To form, or serve as, a cap, covering, or top to; to crown; to overlie, lie on the top of.
1808J. Barlow Columb. iii. 153 Columns of smoke, that cap the rumbling height. 1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 58 The basalts..capping the hills. 1855Browning Fra Lippo, Lodging with a friend..In the house that caps the corner. 1878B. Taylor Deukalion iv. iv. 160 One block Shall cap the pediment.
b. To serve as a cover or wrapping for. ? Obs.
1735Pope Ep. Lady 38 One common fate all imitators share, To save mince-pyes, and cap the grocer's ware.
4. a. To overtop, excel, outdo, surpass, beat. (At first north. dial.)
1821Mrs. Wheeler Westmld. Dial. Pref. 9 He wod giv a supper..if they cud cap him wie onny six words. 1848C. Brontë J. Eyre (1857) 386 ‘Well!..that caps the globe.’ 1857Gen. P. Thompson Audi. Alt. I. xix. 68 There is one story, which caps all the records religious war..can produce. 1876Green Short Hist. ix. §4 (1882) 637 Oates capped the revelations of Bedloe by charging the Queen herself..with knowledge of the plot.
b. dial. To pass the comprehension of; to puzzle, bring to one's wit's end.
1736Bailey, To Cap one, to put him to a non-plus. 1857Heavysege Saul (1869) 167 'Twould cap a monkey To say what I have gathered. 1863Mrs. Toogood Yorksh. Dial., It caps me how t' old man gets his work done.
c. Hence phrases, to cap the climax, to cap all.
1804Lancaster (Pa.) Intelligencer 21 Feb. (Th.), Your correspondent caps the climax of Misrepresentation. 1836W. Irving Astoria III. 160 He capped the climax of this..intelligence, by informing them that, etc. 1863Cornh. Mag. VII. 323 As if to cap the climax of mismanagement. 1891Fur, Fin & Feather Mar. 158 A section of country..that caps the climax for quail, especially along the little creeks.
5. to cap an anecdote, proverb, quotation, etc.: to follow it up with another, a better, or one which serves as a set-off; to quote alternately in emulation or contest, so as to try who can have the last word. to cap verses: to reply to one previously quoted with another, that begins with the final or initial letter of the first, or that rimes or otherwise corresponds with it.
1584Peele Arraignm. Paris iv. ii. (1829) 48 Sh' ath capt his answer in the cue. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, ii. vii. 124 Orleance. Ill will neuer sayd well. Const. I will cap that Prouerbe with, There is flatterie in friendship. 1606Bp. W. Barlow Serm. (1607) D 2 b, Had he bin to sit in the Consistory, only to cap voices, himself hauing no negatiue, etc. 1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. 300 Or if time permit, sometime to cap verses. 1702Eng. Theophrast. 59 He thinks the Roman Poets good for nothing but for Boys to cap verses. 1741Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 145 Don't think we are capping compliments as we used to do verses at school. 1856R. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. i. v. 32 Now you come to Shakspeare, I must cap your quotation with another.
6. To place or put on as or like a cap.
1612T. James Jesuits' Downf. 30 The Iesuits are iolly fellowes to cap crownes. 1823New Monthly Mag. VII. 494 The hood will just cap itself over the horse's ears.
†7. To take away the cap from (a person). Obs.
1553T. Wilson Rhet. 92 b, Boyes..will saye..Sir I wyll cappe you if you use me thus..meanynge that he will take his cappe from him. 1693W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 307 To cap one, or take away his hat.
8. a. intr. To take off the cap in token of respect; also, to cap it. Const. to (a person), whence indirect passive to be capped to.
1555Bradford in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. App. xlv. 134 You must cappe to him in all places. a1564Becon Humble Supplic. in Prayers (1844) 238 They alone be capped, kneeled, and crouched to. 1687in Magd. Coll. & Jas. II (1886) 216 They have denied any power over them in that College, and do refuse to cap. 1863Sala Capt. Danger. III. iv. 115 Soon I was well known and Capped to.
b. trans. (by omission of to).
a1593H. Smith Serm. (1871) I. 205 How would they cap me if I were in velvets. 1763–5Churchill Author, Poems II. 2 And cap the fool, whose merit is his Place. 1850Thackeray Pendennis I. xviii, He and the Proctor capped each other as they met.
9. Of a horse: to cap the hock: to injure, and hence cause a swelling at, the point of the hock.
1886Sat. Rev. 6 Mar. Horse-idiocy 327/2 Capable of exercising, sufficient discretion..to refrain from capping his own hocks.
10. intr. To take cap-money (see cap n.1 19).
1854R. S. Surtees Handley Cross ix. xxxiv. 269 Mr. Jorrocks allowed Pigg [his huntsman] to cap when they killed. 1896Mordaunt & Verney Ann. Warwicks. Hunt I. xiv. 288 They used to cap for us then.
▸ trans. Esp. in financial contexts: to impose an upper limit or ceiling upon; to limit or restrict. Cf. cap n.1 Additions, rate-cap v.
1973Business Week 4 Aug. 52/3 In the past, disputes over ‘escalator’ plans—particularly management efforts to ‘cap’ or limit adjustments—led to protracted strikes at Ford and GM. 1982National Westm. Bank Q. Rev. Nov. 25 If there is genuine excess demand then Saudi Arabia cannot cap the oil price. 2005Guardian 25 Jan. i. 10/1 A backlash which has seen the number capped at eight such venues in the early stages.
▪ VII. † cap, v.2 Obs.
[app. a. OF. cape-r to seize, take, cf. cape ‘bref de prise de corps’ (Godef.): see cape n.4 But cf. also capias, the name of a writ; and cape v.2, a. Du. kapen to take.]
1. trans. To arrest.
1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. 11 Cap him sirra, if he pay it not. 1611Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Burning Pest. iii, Twelve shillings you must pay, or I must cap you.
2. ‘To seize by violence, to lay hold of what is not one's own’ (Jamieson). Mod. Sc.
▪ VIII. cap, v.3
Obs. Sc. form of cape v. |