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Capital   /kˈæpətəl/  /kˈæpɪtəl/   Listen
noun
capital  n.  
1.
(Arch.) The head or uppermost member of a column, pilaster, etc. It consists generally of three parts, abacus, bell (or vase), and necking. See these terms, and Column.
2.
(Geog.) The seat of government; the chief city or town in a country; a metropolis. "A busy and splendid capital"
3.
Money, property, or stock employed in trade, manufactures, etc.; the sum invested or lent, as distinguished from the income or interest. See Capital stock, under Capital, a.
4.
(Polit. Econ.) That portion of the produce of industry, which may be directly employed either to support human beings or to assist in production. Note: When wealth is used to assist production it is called capital. The capital of a civilized community includes fixed capital (i.e. buildings, machines, and roads used in the course of production and exchange) and circulating capital (i.e., food, fuel, money, etc., spent in the course of production and exchange).
5.
Anything which can be used to increase one's power or influence. "He tried to make capital out of his rival's discomfiture."
6.
(Fort.) An imaginary line dividing a bastion, ravelin, or other work, into two equal parts.
7.
A chapter, or section, of a book. (Obs.) "Holy St. Bernard hath said in the 59th capital."
8.
(Print.) See Capital letter, under Capital, a.
Active capital. See under Active,
Small capital (Print.), a small capital letter; informally referred to (in the plural) as small caps; as, the technical terms are listed in small caps. See under Capital, a.
To live on one's capital, to consume one's capital without producing or accumulating anything to replace it.


adjective
Capital  adj.  
1.
Of or pertaining to the head. (Obs.) "Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise Expect with mortal pain."
2.
Having reference to, or involving, the forfeiture of the head or life; affecting life; punishable with death; as, capital trials; capital punishment. "Many crimes that are capital among us." "To put to death a capital offender."
3.
First in importance; chief; principal. "A capital article in religion" "Whatever is capital and essential in Christianity."
4.
Chief, in a political sense, as being the seat of the general government of a state or nation; as, Washington and Paris are capital cities.
5.
Of first rate quality; excellent; as, a capital speech or song. (Colloq.)
Capital letter (Print.), a leading or heading letter, used at the beginning of a sentence and as the first letter of certain words, distinguished, for the most part, both by different form and larger size, from the small (lower-case) letters, which form the greater part of common print or writing.
Small capital letters have the form of capital letters and height of the body of the lower-case letters.
Capital stock, money, property, or stock invested in any business, or the enterprise of any corporation or institution.
Synonyms: Chief; leading; controlling; prominent.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Capital" Quotes from Famous Books



... of Austria, part of the forces having crossed the Isonzo River; another force, which penetrated further north in the Crownland of Goritz and Gradisca, has repaired the railroad beyond Cormons and is marching on Goritz, the capital; sharp fighting has occurred on the Tyrol-Trentino border, where the Austrians are being driven back in advance guard engagements; a battle is raging around Ploken and also west of the Praedil ...
— New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 4, July, 1915 - April-September, 1915 • Various
... more than a hundred and twenty families, and had thought they were therefore entitled to elect a Synhedrin. This was in defiance of ceremonial law, for they knew full well that the formation of a Synhedrin and the right to try a capital charge had long been forbidden. But they were face to face with death, and hence the anachronism had been adopted, and they had fallen back on the custom of their fathers. So three-and-twenty judges they had appointed, without usurers, or slave-dealers, or gamblers, or aged men ...
— The Scapegoat • Hall Caine
... a sound of revelry by day, And England's Capital had gathered then, Her Beauty and her Masherdom, and gay Spring's sun shone o'er smart women and swell men; A thousand shops shone showily; and when MAY came to Mayfair, FLORA to Pall-Mall, Shrewd eyes winked hope to eyes which winked again, And maids heard sounds as of ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102, June 18, 1892 • Various
... one of the oldest settlements in North America, having been founded in 1604, and, until 1750, it was the capital of the whole peninsula of Nova Scotia: Annapolis,—the old Port Royal, the historical town which has been the scene of so many struggles and bitter contentions; but is now the very picture of ...
— Over the Border: Acadia • Eliza Chase
... demonstrate to you that, notwithstanding these apparent difficulties, a threefold unity—namely, a unity of power or faculty, a unity of form, and a unity of substantial composition—does pervade the whole living world." Burke, in his great speech "On Conciliation with America," said, "The capital leading questions on which you must this day decide are two: first, whether you ought to concede; and secondly, what ...
— The Making of Arguments • J. H. Gardiner


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