black capn.
/ˈblak ˌkap/, U.S. /ˈblæk ˌkæp/ (in sense 2)Brit. /ˈblak ˌkap/, U.S. /ˈblæk ˌkæp/ 1. A person who wears a black cap or headdress, esp. (frequently in plural) as a member of a group sharing some common cause or characteristic.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > [noun] > wearing headgear > one who
redcap1550
flat cap1599
sash1657
black cap1856
white hat1872
shawlie1914
raghead1917
hijabi1986
1648 Moderate Intelligencer 17 Feb. A great number of the baser sort of People [of Naples]..arose against the Black Caps,..falling upon them in the Common streets.
1786 Acct. Arch Imposter Charles Price (ed. 4) 41 On these subjects Brank preached till they reached Mother Black-Cap's, Kentish Town.
1856 J. Grant Black Dragoon v The old blackcaps frowned terribly at..this fashion.
1927 Slavonic Rev. June 75 These petty tribes soon became merged in a new federation of Turks, who took the name of Karakalpaks or Blackcaps.
2001 Encycl. Louisville 10/2 The 1931 Louisville White Sox, the 1932 Black Caps, and the 1949 Buckeyes all played at Parkway Field.
2. A bird having a distinctive black top to the head.† a. British regional and U.S. regional. Any of various titmice (family Paridae), as the marsh tit, Parus palustris, great tit, Parus major, and black-capped chickadee, Poecile atricapillus. Obsolete.† b. British regional. Any of various other unrelated birds, as the black-headed gull, Larus ridibundus, and the reed bunting, Emberiza schoeniclus. Obsolete.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Paridae > [noun] > genus Parus (tit) > parus palustris (marsh tit)
black cap1668
marsh titmouse1673
marsh tit1802
saw-whetter1885
fen titmouse-
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Paridae > [noun] > genus Parus (tit) > parus major (great tit)
great titmouse1544
ox-eye1544
tomtit1648
black cap1802
oven's nesta1825
pick-cheesea1825
Tom-noup1832
saw-sharpener1885
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Paridae > [noun] > genus Parus (tit) > miscellaneous types of
titmouse1611
yellowbird1625
tomtit1648
black cap1845
willow tit1907
1668 W. Charleton Onomasticon Zoicon 90 Parus Palustris..the Black Cap, or Fen-Titmouse.
1678 J. Ray tr. F. Willughby Ornithol. 241 (heading) The Marsh Titmouse or Black-cap: Parus palustris Gesneri.
1802 G. Montagu Ornithol. Dict. at Titmouse—Great Great Black-headed Tomtit. Blackcap.
1802 G. Montagu Ornithol. Dict. at Titmouse—Marsh Parus palustris... Marsh Titmouse, or Black-cap.
1845 S. Judd Margaret i. 3 A black-cap is seen to fly over it.
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the world > animals > birds > parts of or bird defined by > [noun] > head > bird having particular colour
blackhead1658
black cap1668
whitecap1668
whitehead1686
redhead1709
the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Laridae (gulls and terns) > [noun] > member of genus Larus (gull) > larus ridibundus (black-headed gull)
pickmawa1525
peewit1678
pickmire1678
red-legged gull1785
black cap1802
pirr1818
red-leg1831
lapwing-gull1844
red-legged mew1862
1668 W. Charleton Onomasticon Zoicon 91 Rubetra, Rubicola..the Stone-chatter... Mortetter, or Black Cap.
1678 J. Ray tr. F. Willughby Ornithol. 347 (heading) The Pewit or Black-cap, called in some places, the Sea-Crow and Mire-Crow: Larus cinereus, Ornithologi Aldrov.
1802 G. Montagu Ornithol. Dict. at Gull—Black-headed Puit, or Pewit Gull. Black-cap. Sea-Crow. Mire-Crow. Crocker.
1863 Young Eng. Aug. 127 In Wiltshire I have heard the red-backed shrike..called the black cap.
c. Now in form blackcap. A greyish-brown warbler found chiefly in Europe, Sylvia atricapilla (family Sylviidae), of which the male has a black cap and the female a reddish-brown one, and which is noted for its warbling song.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > family Muscicapidae (thrushes, etc.) > subfamily Sylviidae (warbler) > [noun] > genus Sylvia > sylvia atricapilla (blackcap)
fig-bird1576
snap-fig1603
beccafico1621
fig-pecker1647
fig-finch1655
black cap1678
fig-eater1678
nettle-monger1712
mockingbird1883
1678 J. Ray tr. F. Willughby Ornithol. 226 (heading) The Black-cap: Atricapilla seu Ficedula, Aldrov.
1766 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. ii. 101 The black-cap is a bird of passage, leaving us before winter.
1774 G. White Let. 2 Sept. in Nat. Hist. Selborne (1789) 103 The black-cap has..a full, sweet, deep, loud, and wild pipe.
1844 Zoologist 2 620 Blackcap... It is frequently called the ‘Kentish nightingale’, which epithet it deserves.
1899 T. Watts-Dunton Aylwin (1900) 3/2 The blackcap has a climacteric note, just before his song collapses and dies.
1945 Ld. Alanbrooke Diary 6 May in War Diaries (2001) 687 Put up hides for a nightingale, bullfinch, and black cap's nest.
1974 W. Condry Woodlands v. 64 A tiny number of blackcaps and chiffchaffs occasionally winter in Britain, mainly in the south.
2001 BBC Wildlife Sept. 77/2 The group includes such familiar birds as the blackcap, whitethroat and garden warbler.
3.
a. A dessert consisting of a halved apple baked with the cut side downwards and a topping of browned sugar.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > prepared fruit and dishes > [noun] > apple dishes
apple-moyse1381
apple frittera1475
hot codlings?1610
flapjack1620
baked apple1621
apple pudding1708
black cap1710
pan pie1723
flap-apple1750
charlotte1796
hop-about1820
biffin1822
apple dowdy1823
pandowdy1833
apple charlotte1842
apple snow1846
apple strudel1850
apple hogling1880
apple amber1889
cob1898
apple crumble1947
1710 P. Lamb Royal Cookery 115 To make Black-Caps. Take twelve good Pippins and cut them in two... Scrape over them some Loaf-Sugar; clap them into a pretty hot Oven..till the Skins are burnt black a little in the Middle-part.
1783 J. Woodforde Diary (1920) 7 Jan. II. 54 We had a very handsome supper—A Couple of boiled Fowls,..Tarts, Italian Flummery—Blamanche black Caps and sweet-meats.
1808 M. E. Rundell New Syst. Domest. Cookery (new ed.) 198 Black Caps. Halve and core some fine large apples..strew white sugar over, and bake them.
1877 E. S. Dallas Kettner's Bk. of Table 37 Black Caps.—This is the primitive form. When Eve cooked apples for Adam, she must have baked them in their skins.
1958 Listener 27 Nov. 903/1 Sprinkle a ‘cap’ of caster sugar on each [sc. apple]. Bake for twenty or twenty-five minutes,..and when the bird goes to the top of the oven, put the ‘blackcaps’ in its place.
2003 E. Santangelo Poison to purge Melancholy viii. 139 The black caps were good—oh, the sugar hadn't caramelized, so we were talking more of a simple baked apple.
b. A boiled pudding containing currants or raisins which (sinking to the bottom) form a black topping when the pudding is turned out of the bowl (but see also quot. 1998). Cf. blackcap pudding n. at Compounds 2. Now rare.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > puddings > [noun] > sweet or fruit puddings
white pudding1588
quaking puddinga1665
apple pudding1708
cowslip pudding1723
plum pudding1811
roly-poly pudding1821
black cap1822
amber pudding1829
bird's nest pudding1829
slump1831
Bakewell pudding1833
roly-poly1835
dog in a (or the) blanket1842
castle pudding1845
ice pudding1846
pan pie1846
dick1849
roll-up1856
canary pudding1861
roly1861
treacle pud1861
Brown Betty1864
summer pudding1875
parfait1884
schalet1884
Sally Lunn pudding1892
Tommy1895
queen of puddings1903
layer-pudding1909
clafoutis1926
shrikhand1950
chocolate fondant1971
mud-pie1975
tiramisu1982
lava cake1994
1822 W. Kitchiner Cook's Oracle (ed. 4) App. 517 Currants washed and picked clean, or Raisins stoned, are good in this pudding, and it is then called a Black Cap.
1890 A. R. Barnes Colonial Househ. Guide in D. Saffery Where Lion Roars (2006) 120 Rice Black-cap Pudding. Butter a pudding basin and stick raisins or prunes all over the bottom... Boil for one hour, when it will turn out a nice shape, with the raisins or prunes covering the top of the rice.
1998 C. G. Sinclair Internat. Dict. Food & Cooking (2001) 65/1 Black cap pudding, (UK) a pudding made from basic steamed pudding mixture, poured into a greased basin whose base is covered with currants or blackcurrant jam. When turned out it has a black cap.
4. Law. A cap worn in court by a judge when passing the sentence of death. Now chiefly historical.
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society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > judging > sentencing > [noun] > sentence > death-sentence > cap worn by sentencing judge
black cap1785
judgement cap1827
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 802 Here is a stately Funerall Monument erected to the memory of Francis Windham,..in his Iudges robes, with a blacke cap on his head.]
1785 Morning Post (London) 2 May There will be no silence in the Theatrical Court—and..we proceed—and not wearing Judge Buller's black cap—..pass sentence according to our own feelings.
1797 J. O'Keeffe Wicklow Mountains ii. ii. 38 You'll be arraign'd, then the judge will put on his little black cap, you'll be condem'd, the cord will be put round your neck, and off you go swinging.
1838 C. Dickens Oliver Twist III. l. 293 The jury returned... The judge assumed the black cap.
1861 Mrs. H. Wood East Lynne III. iii. xix. 228 The judge, the black cap upon his head, crossed his hands one upon the other.
a1930 N. Coward Co-Communists! in B. Day N. Coward: Compl. Lyrics (1998) 39/2 I've got lots of plans for the Old Bailey too So when you observe that the hangings are new And the judge's black cap is an art shade of blue! You'll know they've voted for me!
1989 R. Curtis & B. Elton Blackadder goes Forth in R. Curtis et al. Blackadder: Whole Damn Dynasty (1998) 372/1 The Crown versus Captain Edmund Blackadder, alias the Flanders Pigeon Murderer. Oh, and hand me the black cap, will you—I'll be needing that.
2000 J. Foster in E. C. Gaskell Mary Barton (new ed.) 357 (note) Judges donned a black cap when they pronounced a death sentence.
5. North American. The black raspberry, Rubus occidentalis, of eastern North America; (also) the edible dark purple fruit of this plant.
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the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > berry > [noun] > raspberry > types of
black raspberry1759
Antwerp?a1797
black cap1831
nessberry1925
tayberry1977
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular types of fruit > [noun] > edible berries > raspberry > collectively
raspis?1533
black cap1831
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular types of fruit > [noun] > edible berries > raspberry > types of
thimble-berry1789
Antwerp?a1797
black cap1831
nessberry1925
1831 W. R. Prince Pomol. Man. ii. 166 The American Black raspberry, or Black-cap, as it is commonly denominated, forms long shoots in the same manner.
1886 Harper's Mag. July 281/2 There is another American species of raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) that is almost as dear to memory as the wild strawberry—the thimble-berry, or black-cap.
1910 A. D. Wilson & E. W. Wilson Agric. for Young Folks xii. 297 Each species has many varieties of fruit, but only two distinct types are represented, the red raspberries and the black raspberries, or ‘black caps’.
2006 L. Longbotham Luscious Berry Desserts 13/1 Black raspberries, also known as black caps, are small seedy, thimble-shaped berries.
Compounds
C1. attributive. In the names of birds (and other animals); = black-capped adj. 2.
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1730 M. Catesby Nat. Hist. Carolina I. iii. Pl. 53 Muscicapa nigrescens. The Black-cap Fly-catcher.
1791 W. Bartram Trav. N. & S. Carolina 289* The pewit, or black cap flycatcher.__
1829 E. Griffith et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom VII. 121 The Black-cap Titmouse. Parus Palustris.
1835 L. Jenyns Man. Brit. Vertebr. Animals 108 Sylvia Atricapilla, Lath. (Black-cap Warbler).
1861 Amer. Agriculturist Jan. 13/3 They appeared to fraternize very amicably with the black cap warblers.
1930 G. L. Bates Handbk. Birds W. Afr. 381 Malacocincla cleaveri batesi. Blackcap Akalat... The Blackcap Akalat is similar in habits to the others.
1988 National Geographic Nov. 723/3 (caption) Black hood over a magenta body distinguishes a blackcap basslet, seen feeding beside an orange elephant-ear sponge.
C2.
blackcap pudding n. = sense 3.Quot. 1769 is likely to be an illustration of sense 3a, and the others sense 3b.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > puddings > [noun] > batter-puddings
Yorkshire pudding1747
batter pudding1769
blackcap pudding1842
puffet1860
Yorkshire1898
Yorkshire pud1975
1769 Bill for Christmas Day Dinner (Brasenose Coll. Oxf. Archives) (Hurst Bursarial Tradesmens' Bills No. 84) Black cap puding 0.3.0.
1842 E. Roberts Rundell's New Syst. Domest. Cookery (ed. 66) xi. 205 A Black Cap Pudding... Add..half a pound of currants washed and picked.
1931 Evening Huronite (S. Dakota) 26 Nov. 7/1 Black cap pudding is made in this way... Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar... Serve piping hot with a vanilla sauce.
1995 Observer (Nexis) 22 Jan. 56 Sticky toffee pudding, steamed ginger sponge..and blackcap pudding..have returned after years in exile.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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