capital
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L30377 on Wikidata ↗noun
- part of a column (architecture)
- primary governing city of a top-level (country) or first-level subdivision (country, state, province, etc) political entity
- assets used for the production of goods and services
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈkæpɪtəl/ / [ˈkʰæpɪtʰəl] ~ [ˈkʰæpɪtʰl̩] / /ˈkæpɪɾəl/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English capital, borrowed partly from Old French capital and partly from Latin capitālis (“of the head”) (in sense “head of cattle”), from caput (“head”) (English cap) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives). Use in trade and finance originated in Medieval economies when a common but expensive transaction involved trading heads of cattle. The noun is from the adjective. In the fourth sense, displaced native Old English hēafodburg, equivalent to head + borough (“city”). Compare chattel and kith and kine (“all one’s possessions”), which also use “cow” to mean “property”. Doublet of cattle and chattel.
- Of prime importance.
“a capital article in religion”
“whatever is capital and essential in Christianity”
- Chief (in a political sense, as being the seat of the general government of a state or nation).
“London and Paris are capital cities.”
- Excellent.
“a capital fellow”
“That is a capital idea!”
- Punishable by, or involving punishment by, death.
“capital punishment; capital murder”
“Neither could the Legiſlature in any thing more conſult the Publick Good, than by providing ſome effectual Remedy againſt this Evil, which in ſeveral Caſes deſerves greater Puniſhment than many Crimes that are capital among us.”
- Uppercase.
“One begins a sentence with a capital letter.”
- Uppercase.
“You're a genius with a capital G!”
“He's dead with a capital D!”
- Of or relating to the head.
“Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise / Expect with mortal pain.”
intj
Etymology: From Middle English capital, borrowed partly from Old French capital and partly from Latin capitālis (“of the head”) (in sense “head of cattle”), from caput (“head”) (English cap) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives). Use in trade and finance originated in Medieval economies when a common but expensive transaction involved trading heads of cattle. The noun is from the adjective. In the fourth sense, displaced native Old English hēafodburg, equivalent to head + borough (“city”). Compare chattel and kith and kine (“all one’s possessions”), which also use “cow” to mean “property”. Doublet of cattle and chattel.
- used as an expression of approval, satisfaction, or delight.
“That's an amazing idea! Capital!”
“"Capital! And I shall soon get a bonus."”
name
Etymology: Borrowed from Arabic ٱلْعَاصِمَةُ (l-ʕāṣimatu).
- A governorate in northern Bahrain.
noun
Etymology: From Middle English capitale, partly from Old French capital and partly from Late Latin capitellum (“capital or chapiter of a column”), a form of Latin capitulum (“head-like object or structure; chapter”) (whence English capitulum, chapter, and the synonym chapiter (“uppermost part of a column”)), from caput (“head”) + -ulum (diminutive suffix). Doublet of caddie, cadel, cadet, capitellum, and caudillo.
- The uppermost part of a column.
“But a great wonder of this chamber, and a marvel to behold, was how the capital of every one of the four-and-twenty pillars was hewn from a single precious stone, carved by the hand of some sculptor of long ago into the living form of a monster: […]”