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capacity|kəˈpæsɪtɪ|
Also 5–6 -yte(e, 6–7 -itie, (6 -ite, -itye, -asitie).
[15th c. capacyte, a. F. capacité, ad. L. capācitāt-em, noun of state f. capāx, capāci- able to take in: see -acity.]
†1.
a. Ability to receive or contain; holding power. Obs. (in general sense).
1481Caxton Myrr. iii. xx. 179 The capacyte and gretnes of heuene. 1555Eden Decades W. Ind. i. i. (Arb.) 66 Hauens of capacitie to harborowe greate nauies. Ibid. iv. (Arb.) 85 A potte of no bygger capacitie then to houlde them only. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. viii. 32. 1702 Eng. Theophrast. 228 There is a certain degree of capacity in the greatest vessel, and when tis full, if you pour in still, it must run out.
b. fig.
1578Chr. Prayers in Priv. Prayers (1851) 513 That I may so drink of thee, according to my capacity, as I may live for ever. 1634Bp. Hall Occas. Med. Wks. (1808) 195 All favourable promises presuppose a capacity in the receiver. 1845De Quincey Wks. VI. 275 Men of genius have a larger capacity of happiness.
c. capacity for heat, moisture, etc.: the power of absorbing heat, etc. capacity of a conductor (Electr.): see quot.
1793T. Beddoes Calculus, &c. 233 The great capacity of the arterial blood for heat. 1863R. S. Culley Pract. Telegr. (1871) 293 By the Capacity of a Condenser or Cable is meant its power to receive a charge. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 68 The hotter the air the greater its capacity for moisture. 1885Watson & Burbury Math. The. Electr. & Magn. I. 160 The capacity of a conductor in presence of any other conductors is the charge upon it required to raise it to unit potential, when all the other conductors have potential zero.
d. The power of an apparatus to store static electricity; also = capacitance. Also attrib., denoting an apparatus which gives additional capacity, as capacity cage, capacity earth.
1777T. Cavallo Compl. Treat. Electr. ii. i. 103 The celebrated Father Beccaria supposes that the action of rubbing increaseth the capacity of the Electric, i.e. renders that part of the electric, which is actually under the rubber capable of containing a greater quantity of electric fluid. 1903Westm. Gaz. 25 Feb. 5/1 The oscillatory circuit consists of a light wire cage, or ‘capacity’. 1906A. F. Collins Man. Wireless Telegr. 209 Capacity cage, a cylindrical cage made of wire and placed at the top of the aerial wire to give it additional capacity. 1923Daily Mail 3 Mar. 5 If you are particularly bothered by the proximity of wires it is worth while to try the effect of substituting a ‘capacity earth’ for the ordinary earth connection. The capacity is a wire or wires stretched out below and parallel to the aerial above but insulated from the earth. 1932C. J. Smith Intermediate Physics xxxix. 507 The capacity of a sphere expressed in E.S.U. is numerically equal to its radius in centimetres. 1948C. A. Coulson Electr. 43 If the potential difference between the plates is V, we define the capacity C by the formula C = Q/V. 1959Chambers's Encycl. III. 826/1 The capacity of the charged conductor is..increased, i.e. it can hold a bigger charge for a given potential.
e. Ability to provide accommodation (for the discharge, transport, etc.) of a certain amount or volume; also spec. in Physical Geogr., ability to carry away detritus, measured by the quantity which passes a given point in a given time.
1885Eng. Illustr. Mag. Sept. 813/2 The Nene does not discharge its waters so rapidly as it ought... Cut off the bends if you want a more efficient discharging capacity. 1892Jrnl. Soc. Arts XLI. 96/2 The capacity of the present tunnel is sufficient to provide 100,000 horse-power applied to the turbines. 1900Ibid. XLVIII. 835/1 The capacity of the larger canal would be over 20,000,000 tons a year.
f. The largest audience that a place of entertainment can hold; a situation in which a theatre, cinema, etc., is full; spec. in phr. to capacity: with all available room occupied; hence in general use, full; to the limit.
1908L. Merrick Man who understood Women 152 On the second Saturday night they played to ‘the capacity of the house’. 1919Honey Pot July 5 Why there is hardly a theatre in the West End playing to capacity, week in week out. 1929J. B. Priestley Good Compan. ii. iii. 328 We've got going in the town... Another week and it 'ud be capacity every night. Ibid. 329 Turning money away, my dear; capacity to the roof, ol' man. 1937D. Marlowe Coming, Sir! viii. 123 The other stows were filled to capacity. 1949Wodehouse Mating Season xxii. 182, I..took my place among the standees at the back, noting dully that I should be playing to absolute capacity. 1958Spectator 20 June 819/1 The bank-note paper mills worked to capacity throughout the year.
g. In industry: the ability to produce; equivalent to ‘full capacity’.
1931Times Trade & Engin. Suppl. 24 Jan. p. x/3 The production of bituminous coal [in U.S.] by ‘mechanical mining’ increased to 37·8 million tons in 1929, and this does not represent capacity, for short time and experimental work reduced the total below the maximum. 1940Economist 8 June 999/1 The existing capacity must not only be worked to the limit, it must be expanded. 1959Listener 12 Feb. 273/1 The British economy, so far from being inflationary, was suffering from a marked amount of excess capacity.
2. Hence, Content:
†a. superficial, Area (obs.);
b. cubic, Volume, solid content. measure of capacity: the measure applied to the content of a vessel, and to liquids, grain, or the like, which take the shape of that which holds them.
1571Digges Pantom. ii. ix, You maye readely measure all equiangle figures, what capacitie..soeuer they bee of. Ibid. iv. xxiv, Rules for the inuention of his capacitie superficiall and Solide. 1658Sir T. Browne Hydriot. ii. (1736) 18 The present Urns were not of one Capacity, the Largest containing above a Gallon. 1697W. Dampier Voy., Of a Capacity usually of a Gallon or more. 1818Faraday Exp. Res. iv. 11 A glass globe of the..capacity..of about 140 cubic inches. 1866Herschel Fam. Lect. Sc. 192 Our ordinary measures of length, weight and capacity.
c. The total cylinder volume that is swept by the pistons in an internal-combustion engine.
1903Motor 22 Apr. 237/2 Assuming that cylinder volume were taken as the standard..there would be no possibility of definitely ascertaining whether the two or four-stroke motor gave the better system, because the two-stroke would, on cylinder capacity, receive an enormous advantage. 1936Ibid. 14 Oct. 514/1 The clever way in which eight cylinders, affording a total capacity of 4½ litres, have been arranged in so compact a space. 1946Autocar Handbk. (ed. 19) i. 33 On January 1, 1947..the H.P. tax will be superseded, for cars first registered after that date, by a tax on the cylinder capacity of the engine; that is, the volume swept by the pistons. 1966S. Black Man & Motor Cars xi. 170 A six-cylinder engine..need be no more uneconomic in petrol consumption than a four-cylinder engine, if the cylinder capacity is suitably adjusted. 1977‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon xi. 213 There were Hondas and Suzukis and Yamahas and even a few Norton Commandos, ranging in capacity from 400 to 750 c.c. 1984Economist 7 Apr. 85/2 The figures on..the fuel consumption of cars were calculated assuming that..lower transmission ratios or larger engine capacities would be used to compensate for performance losses as octane numbers..were reduced.
†3.
a. A containing space, area, or volume. Obs.
1649W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) 155 Into a long square..or an Ovall Capacity, or else into a Circular plot. 1756Burke Subl. & B. iv. ix, The whole capacity of the eye, vibrating in all its parts.
†b. esp. A space of three dimensions; a hollow space, a cavity. Obs.
1541R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 G ij, In diuiding y⊇ tronke..betwene the necke & the legges, is two great capacytees. 1594T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 216 There are two capacities or holow places in the heart. 1662Glanvill Lux Orient. xiv. 129 Not..a meer void capacity, for there are no such chasms in nature. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn., Carcass, is an Iron Case, or hollow Capacity, about the bigness of a Bomb.
†c. fig.
1587Golding De Mornay xv. 248 Influence that floweth into the capasitie of our vnderstanding. 1752Johnson Rambl. No. 204 ⁋3, I will fill the whole capacity of my soul with enjoyment.
4. Mental or intellectual receiving power; ability to grasp or take in impressions, ideas, knowledge.
1485Caxton Chas. Gt. 1 After the capacyte of my lytel entendement..I haue ordeyned this book. 1580Baret Alv. C 64 To apply himself to the capacitie of the scholer. 1671Milton Samson 1028 Capacity not raised to..value what is best. 1713Berkeley Wks. III. 145 He wants capacity to relish what true piety is. 1836–8Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. I. 253 Faculty is active power; capacity is passive power.
5. Active power or force of mind; mental ability, talent.
1485Caxton Paris & V. Prol., My capacity is not sufficient for the proper handling..of such subjects. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxvii. §12 Hath not perhaps the wit or capacity to tread out so endless mazes. 1673Marvell Corr. ccxi. Wks. 1872–5 II. 413 Ready to..serve them to the best of your capacityes. 1713Steele Guardian No. 17 ⁋7 The fellow was a person of diligence and capacity. 1856Ruskin Mod. Paint. III. iv. x. §22 Everlasting difference is set between one man's capacity and another's.
6. gen. The power, ability, or faculty for anything in particular. Constr. of, for, or inf.
1647Jer. Taylor Lib. Proph. i. 10 Enable him with the capacities of our Saviour and Lord. 1736Butler Anal. i. i. 19 We are endued with Capacities of action, of happiness and misery. 1749Fielding Tom Jones ix. vii, The capacity of removing themselves from one place to another. 1833H. Martineau Charmed Sea i. 8 Sophia..seemed to have lost the capacity of loving. 1869Buckle Civilis. II. i. 5 As society advanced there arose a capacity for self⁓protection. 1883Nature 8 Mar. 435 The means of determining exact positions [in astronomy] and the capacity to reduce them.
7. The quality or condition of admitting or being open to action or treatment; capability, possibility.
1659Whole Duty Man x. ii. 79 Several branches [of Justice] answerable to those capacities of injury. 1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. iii. (1681) 17 Of Wet Meadows or Land under that capacity of being overflown. 1669Marvell Corr. cxiv. Wks. 1872–5 II. 274 You have yet..a capacity of straitning the project. 1719De Foe Crusoe II. v. 106 To deprive them of the capacity of ever returning. 1791Smeaton Edystone L. §90 That there should be a level area..or the capacity of making such a one. 1825McCulloch Pol. Econ. i. 23 Countries possessed of the greatest capacities of improvement. 1850Daubeny Atom. The. v. (ed. 2) 159 A capacity for infinite division.
†8. Hence to be in, put into or out of a capacity: i.e. a position which enables, or renders capable. Obs.
1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. vi. 17 He instantly, if he be in capacity, leaves the wife of his bosom. 1669Marvell Corr. cxxxi. Wks. 1872–5 II. 296 The House..not..in a capacity to finish that bill before their meeting in February. a1672Wood Life (1848) 23 Being just..in capacity of spending the remainder of his dayes in ease and quietness, he died. 1697W. Dampier Voy. I. xiii. 352 The capacity we were then in, of settling ourselves at Mindanas. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 282 Not willing to put ourselves out of a capacity of planting further. 1804Duncan Trident I. 185 Our [galley] alone was in a capacity to begin the engagement.
9. a. Position, condition, character, relation.
a1649Chas. I. Wks. 295 He should be in a capacity of Honor. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. 9 In what capacity these Jews came over, I finde not. 1710Pope Lett. in Wks. V. 84, I am..dead in a natural capacity..dead in a poetical capacity..and dead in a civil capacity. 1747Hervey Medit. & Contempl. (1818) 266 The moon is..ready to act in the capacity of a guide. 1835Buchanan Ch. Establishm. i. 7 Channels through which the mind of a people, in their collective capacity, can be expressed. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 364 The King, in his individual capacity, had very little to give. 1871Smiles Charac. iv. (1876) 111.
†b. Relation, tenor, sense (of words). Obs.
1720Waterland Vind. Christ's Divin. 102 Irenæus understood those Texts..in that Capacity.
10. Law. Legal competency or qualification. to be in capacity: to be legally qualified.
1480Bury Wills (1850) 66 Capacite in the lawe to purchase, take, and resceyue..possessiouns. a1626Bacon Use Com. Law (1636) 42 Persons attainted of felony or treason, have no capacity in them to take, obtaine, or purchase. 1641Terms de la Ley 44 Capacitie is when a man, or bodie politicke or corporate is able to give or take lands or other things, or to sue actions. 1768Blackstone Comm. II. 497 The ecclesiastical court is the judge of every testator's capacity. 1845Stephen Laws Eng. II. 406 The capacity of an alien may be enlarged by his becoming a denizen.
11. a. attrib. and Comb., as capacity-catching.
1904Westm. Gaz. 17 Sept. 7/1 A certain groundwork of school knowledge, enough..to serve for what Professor Huxley called ‘capacity catching’. 1905Daily Chron. 31 Jan. 4/5 If you are out for what Mr. Sidney Webb would style ‘capacity-catching’.
b. passing into adj. That reaches or fills the utmost capacity.
1920Times (weekly ed.) 17 Sept., Profits are not unduly large in view of the fact that it is necessary to play almost to capacity business. 1925Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Aug. 554/1 Both the play and film are now drawing capacity houses in London. 1928Morning Post 20 Oct. 10/6 A ‘capacity’ audience greeted the appearance of M. Ravel. 1929Ibid. 28 Aug., Swimming baths, of course, attracted capacity crowds throughout the day. 1965Listener 16 Sept. 416/3 A Hard Day's Night is running in six cinemas... The Beatles do capacity business. |