CAPTURE

I. noun Etymology: Middle French, from Latin captura, from captus Date: circa 1542 an act or instance of capturing: as, an act of catching, winning, or gaining control by force, stratagem, or guile, a move in a board game (as chess or checkers) that gains an opponent's piece, the absorption by an atom, nucleus, or particle of a subatomic particle that often results in subsequent emission of radiation or in fission, the act of recording in a permanent file , one that has been taken (as a prize ship), II. transitive verb (~d; capturing) Date: 1574 1. to take captive, to gain or win especially through effort , 2. to emphasize, represent, or preserve (as a scene, mood, or quality) in a more or less permanent form , to record in a permanent file (as in a computer), to captivate and hold the interest of, to take according to the rules of a game, to bring about the ~ of (a subatomic particle), see: catch