cap

A close-fitting hat, either brimless or peaked.

Noun

  1. A close-fitting hat, either brimless or peaked.
    • The children were all wearing caps to protect them from the sun.
    • That elf-maiden smote with her hand so white, “Sorrow and sickness on thee alight” That elf-maiden smote with her cap so small, “No more shall priest's benison on thee fall!” - 1847 September 11, William J. Thoms, “The...
  2. A special hat to indicate rank, occupation, etc.
  3. An academic mortarboard.
  4. A protective cover or seal.
    • He took the cap off the bottle and splashed himself with some cologne.
  5. A crown for covering a tooth.
    • He had golden caps on his teeth.
  6. The summit of a mountain, etc.
    • There was snow on the cap of the mountain.
  7. An artificial upper limit or ceiling.
    • We should put a cap on the salaries, to keep them under control.
    • The G7 countries have agreed to impose a price cap on Russian oil in an attempt to stem the flow of funds into the Kremlin’s war coffers. […] The level of the cap is still being discussed. - 2022 September 2, Alex...

    Antonyms: floor

  8. The top part of a mushroom.
  9. A small amount of percussive explosive in a paper strip or plastic cup for use in a toy gun.
    • Billy spent all morning firing caps with his friends, re-enacting storming the beach at Normandy.
  10. A small explosive device used to detonate a larger charge of explosives.
    • He wired the cap to the bundle of dynamite, then detonated it remotely.
  11. A bullet used to shoot someone.
    • Did he think they were going to put a cap in his ass right in the middle of Metreon? - 2001, Charles Jade, Jade goes to Metreon:
  12. A lie or exaggeration.
    • no cap
    • that’s cap

Origin

Etymology tree Late Latin [Term?]? Late Latin cappabor. Proto-West Germanic *kappā Proto-West Germanic *kappijā Old English cæppe Middle English cappe English cap Inherited from Middle English cappe, from Old English cæppe, from Proto-West Germanic *kappā (“covering, hood, mantle”), from Late Latin cappa, itself from Latin caput. Doublet of cape, chape, and cope.

Forms

caps 🧢

Related

lid set one's cap at

Derived

cap-apée cap-a-pie capcase capful capless caplike decap goosecap Monmouth Cap nanocap uncapped Ascot cap baggy green cap bald cap ballcap baseball cap bathing cap black cap bouffant cap Breton cap bump cap cap and bells cap and gown cap badge

Noun business, finance

  1. Capitalization.
  2. A capital letter.
  3. A capacitor.
    • parasitic caps
    • I had to replace the caps in that thing to get it to work again.
  4. Clipping of capture; a recording or screenshot.
    • Anyone have a cap of the games last night?
    • If you have a cap of Gabby's bare butt from the "forget me not" episode please post or mail it... - 1998 September 26, Mr Hanky [username] <[email protected]>, “req: does anyone have a cap of Gabby's behind from...
    • Here's a cap of Jennifer from her latest Letterman appearance […] - 1998 April 27, Johan [username], “Jennifer on Letterman”, in alt.fan.jen-aniston (Usenet), retrieved 07 Aug 2016:
  5. A capsule of a drug.
    • Glass bottles of liquid LSD; moist blocks of Manali charras and Malana cream; sachets of smack; a hundred caps of MDMA and a phial of Australian DMT; ampoules of medical morphine and a dense pad of four thousand...
  6. A capitalist.
  7. A capillary.
  8. A caption.

Origin

Various clippings.

Forms

caps 🧢

Derived

cap table large cap market cap mega cap megacap microcap midcap small-cap capline drop cap small caps mo-cap cap up caplet an-cap anticap cap refill endcap

Noun obsolete

  1. A wooden drinking-bowl with two handles.

Origin

From Scots cap, an alteration of earlier cop, from Middle English cop, from Old English copp (“a cup, vessel”), from Proto-West Germanic *kopp, from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz.

Forms

caps 🧢

Derived

cappie

Verb Entry 4

  1. To cover or seal with a cap.
  2. To award a cap as a mark of distinction.
  3. To lie over or on top of something.
  4. To surpass or outdo.
  5. To set (or reach) an upper limit on something.
    • to cap wages
    • It recalls the business case for Scotland's reopening of the Borders Railway to Tweedbank, that British Rail closed in 1969. The review says the business case for this was at best borderline, but goes on to say that the...
  6. To conclude; to make something even more wonderful at the end.
    • That really capped my day.
    • Ms. Yaccarino’s exit caps a tumultuous period at X, which was previously called Twitter and has been remade in Mr. Musk’s image since he bought the platform for $44 billion in 2022. - 2025 July 9, Mike Isaac, Kate...
  7. To select a player to play for a specified side.
  8. To shoot (someone) with a firearm.
    • If he don’t get outta my hood, I’m gonna cap his ass.
    • In a school shooting, where some kid caps a bunch of other kids, where did he get the weapon? From a family member, probably their gun cabinet.

    Synonyms: pop a cap in someone's ass

  9. To lie; to tell a lie.
    • "How? Didn’t I cap for you, an’ square you with the examinin’ board? Didn’t I stake you to the three hundred dollars?" - 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis, “Confessions of a Detective”, in Confessions of a Detective, New York:...
    • It’s over for you capping-ass rappers—get out the game / You can fool the record labels, but not the streets, man - 2003, Antwan Patton et al., “Tomb of the Boom”, in Speakerboxxx, performed by OutKast:
  10. To select to play for the national team.
    • Peter Shilton is the most capped English footballer.
  11. To salute by uncovering the head respectfully.
    • Tom never miſsed a lecture, and capped the proctor with the profoundeſt of bows. - 1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “I Go to Cambridge, and Do But Little Good There”, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. […] , volume...
    • Indeed, as the astonished small boys "capped" him on his way to nine o'clock "absence," he wore an expression of delight bordering on playfulness, which, coming from one of such firm and commanding features, was...
  12. To deprive of a cap.
    • As if one going to diſtrain upon his own Land or Tenement, where lawfully he may; yet if in doing thereof, he tranſgreſs the leaſt Point of the Common Law, he ſtraight committeth Felony. Or if one, by any other...

Forms

caps capping capped 🧢

Derived

cap it off cap off cap on cappable capper capping plane no cap outcap recap uncap

Verb informal, transitive

  1. To convert text to uppercase.
  2. To take a screenshot or to record a copy of a video.
    • I've capped in VCD format, so will eventually post it to abme (I've since found out that it's a bit OT for this group) - 2001 December 3, Methos [username], alt.fan.televisionx (Usenet):
    • Please tell me someone capped it!!!! - 2002 June 11, test . com Ground Hog [username], alt.luser.recovery (Usenet):
    • If I had a method of capping from video tapes there's a movie that I can no longer remember the name of which has a single scene with Racquel and Derrick as a newly married couple having sex under the lustful eyes of...
  3. To capture an objective, such as a flag or checkpoint.
    • Call your friends and bring a gun / The Halo revolution's on / Capping flags and arming bombs / Yes, we don't blink until we're done - 2007 November 20, Greg Haupt, “LvUrFR3NZ”, in Halo 3 Original Soundtrack, performed...
  4. To capitulate (cause to capitulate) an opponent.

Forms

caps capping capped 🧢

Derived

intercapped mo-cap