I. ˈkap noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English cappe, from Old English cæppe, from Late Latin cappa head covering, cloak, perhaps irregular from Latin caput head — more at head
1. : a covering for the head typically fairly tight-fitting, brimless, and relatively simple: as
a. : one with a full crown and a ruffled edge gathered on or held by a ribbon band and worn formerly by women
b. : one of fabric, yarn, rubber, or leather, without brim, with or without visor, chin strap, or earflaps, and with a crown ranging from shallow to deep and soft to stiff
c. : helmet , headpiece
d. : a man's or boy's cap typically with a visor of some stiffness
e. : one without a brim, fitting close to the crown of the head, made usually of fabric, often elaborately trimmed, and worn by women
2. : something that covers naturally : a natural cover or top: as
a. : an overlying rock layer or stratum usually hard to penetrate: as
(1) : an impervious layer immediately over the oil-producing or gas-producing formation in an oil pool
(2) : dense usually limestone or anhydrite rock immediately above the salt in a salt dome
(3) or cap rock : a bed of resistant rock, boulders, or gravel at the summit of a mesa, hill, or cliff
b.
(1) : pileus
(2) : calyptra
c. : kneecap , patella
d. : whitecap
e. : polar cap , ice cap
f.
(1) : the whole top of a bird's head from the base of the bill to the nape of the neck
(2) : a patch of distinctively colored feathers on the head of many birds
g. : the wax covering for the individual cell made by bees in sealing up honey or pupae in the comb
h. Northeast : cornhusk
3. : something that serves as a cover or protection especially for a tip, knob, or end : something designed to cover and to protect, preserve, or close (as over a camera lens, fountain pen, automobile hub, or narrow-mouthed bottle):
a. : the separate piece of leather commonly attached to the vamp at the toe of a shoe as a covering — called also tip
b. : a fitting for closing the end of a tube (as a water pipe or electric conduit) ; especially : an internally threaded cup-shaped part that screws on
c. : a covering of tarred canvas for the end of a rope
d. : a readily removable protective cover or plate over a lock (as on a door) or latch
e. : the part of an electrical attachment plug or cord connector to which a flexible conductor is attached
f. : a paper covering placed over the gold edges of fine books until they are bound
g. : a sheet-steel cone placed over the end of a log to facilitate its being skidded especially by steam power
h. : a layer of new rubber fused onto the worn surface of a pneumatic tire
i. : a blunt nose that is fitted onto an armor-piercing projectile (as a shell)
4. archaic : a respectful doffing of one's cap
he that will give a cap and make a leg in thanks — Thomas Fuller
5. : a cap as a token or symbol: as
a. : a cardinal's biretta
b. : a cap worn by students and officers of schools, colleges, and universities typically tight-fitting and having a flat projecting square top with a tassel — see mortarboard
c. Britain
(1) : a cap awarded to an athlete (as a soccer player) in recognition of membership on a national or other representative team
he gained his county cap
(2) : a player awarded a cap
a new cap was brought in to replace the halfback
d. : a white cap worn by graduate nurses or by student nurses after a probationary period
6. : an overlaying or covering structure : something that is placed or constructed above
the galleried cap of the old water tower is sometimes open to visitors
a. : the uppermost of any assemblage of architectural parts especially of a column, door, or molding (as a capital, lintel, cornice, or coping)
b.
(1) : a horizontal support typically of heavy timber for the roof of a mine working
(2) : the narrowing of an ore vein by contraction at its upper part
c. : capsheaf
7. : a device for joining together masts or spars consisting either of a thick wood block with two large holes or of a metal collar — see ship illustration
8.
a. : a paper or metal container holding an explosive charge : such a device used to detonate another charge
b. : a firearm primer
c. : a minute explosive charge sealed between the layers of a paper strip for use in a toy gun
d. : a BB or CB cap
9. : a blue tip on a safety-lamp flame that shows the presence of firedamp
10. Britain : the collection taken at a fox hunt especially from nonsubscribers
•
- cap in hand
II. verb
( capped ; capped ; capping ; caps )
Etymology: Middle English cappen, from cappe, n.
transitive verb
1. : to provide with a cap : put a cap on : cover, protect, or close with or as if with a cap : cover the top or end of
Corinthian columns capped by Grecian spans of Bedford limestone — American Guide Series: Texas
as
a. : to give a cap to as a symbol of honor or rank:
(1) Scotland : to confer a university degree on
(2) : to invest (a student nurse) with a cap as an indication of completion of a probationary period of study
b. : to cover (a diseased or exposed part of a tooth) with a protective substance (as a paste)
c. : to seal off (an oil or gas well) by clamping a cap over the end of a casing
d. : to seal (a cell of a honeycomb) with wax
e.
(1) : to put a cap on the nipple of (a percussion lock)
(2) : to seat a cap or primer in the recess in the base of (a cartridge case)
2. archaic : to salute by tipping one's cap to
you would not cap the pope's commissioner — Alfred Tennyson
3. dialect : surprise , puzzle , perplex
4. : to form a cap over : crown , cover , overlay
limestone ledges a few feet in thickness cap the hills — American Guide Series: Louisiana
the mountains were capped with mist — John Buchan
5.
a. : to follow with something more noticeable or more significant : proffer as better or more extreme : outdo , surpass , excel
capped the comment with a remark still more immodest — Dorothy Sayers
b. : to provide with a high point, zenith, or acme : climax
suppose he caps his studies by marrying one of the doctor's daughters — William Black
St. Thomas caps his ethical system with a doctrine of salvation — Frank Thilly
c. : to reply to in order with an appropriate answer or quotation according to set rules (as calling for a verse beginning with the initial or final letter of what has been previously offered)
I'll cap verses with him — John Dryden
a group of farmers capping alliterative sentences with one another — F.M.Stenton
6. : to take the cap off or away from
cap a bottle
cap a comb of honey
intransitive verb
: to take off one's cap in respectful salute
they cap when they pass the dean
•
- cap the climax
III. transitive verb
( capped ; capped ; capping ; caps )
Etymology: probably from Old North French caper to seize, probably from cape cloak with hood, from Late Latin cappa head covering, cloak — more at cap (head covering)
obsolete : arrest , seize
IV. ˈkap noun
( -s )
Etymology: alteration of earlier Scots cop, from Middle English, cup, bowl, from Old English copp cup; akin to Old High German kopf cup, Old Norse koppr; all from a prehistoric North Germanic-West Germanic word borrowed from Late Latin cuppa — more at cup
Scotland : a shallow wooden bowl often with two handles
V. ˈkap noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: by shortening
: a capital letter
the names of places written in caps
VI. transitive verb
( capped ; capped ; capping ; caps )
Etymology: by shortening
: capitalize
VII. noun
( -s )
Etymology: by shortening
: a handicap race
VIII. noun
( -s )
Etymology: by shortening
: a capsule especially of heroin
IX. abbreviation
1. capacity
2. ˈkap capital
3. capitulum
4. captain
5. caput
X. noun
Etymology: cap (I)
1. Britain : dutch cap herein
2. : an upper limit : ceiling
a salary cap
3. : the symbol ∩ indicating the intersection of two sets — compare cup herein
4. : a cluster of molecules or chemical groups bound to one end or a region of a cell, virus, or molecule
the cell surface receptors were redistributed into caps
XI. transitive verb
1. : to form a chemical cap on
the capped end of a messenger RNA
2. : to prevent from growing or spreading : set an upper limit on
legislation … that would cap credit card rates — Peter Pae & Georgette Jasen
intransitive verb
: to form or produce a chemical cap
erythrocytes and fibroblasts usually do not cap