caput

noun

Etymology: Learned borrowing from Latin caput (“the head”). Doublet of cape, capo, chef, and chief, and distantly of head and Howth.

1. The head.
2. A knob-like protuberance or capitulum.
3. The top or superior part of a thing.
4. The council or ruling body of the University of Cambridge prior to the constitution of 1856.

   “D. has been engaged, he tells me, through a course of laborious years, in an investigation into all curious matter connected with the two Universities; and has lately lit upon a MS. collection of charters, relative to C⁠⸺, by which he hopes to settle some disputed points—particularly that long controversy between them as to priority of foundation. The ardor with which he engages in these liberal pursuits, I am afraid, has not met with all the encouragement it deserved, either here, or at C⁠⸺. Your caputs, and heads of colleges, care less than any body else about these questions.”

5. Ellipsis of caput succedaneum.