capita

Latin plural of caput. capitaine (kap'i-tan), n. [F. capitaine, a captain.) A labroid fish, Lachnolæmus maximus or falcatus, better known as hogfish. See cut under hogfish. contand cap it all (kap'i-tal), a. and n. [ = Pr. Sp. Sp. Pg. capital = tol-mæ e, first ma ) It. capitale , capital is , relating to the head, and hence to life, dangerous, capital, also chief, preeminent, caput ( cap it- ), head: see caput . ] I. a. 11. Relating to the head; situated on the head. Needs must the serpent now his capital bruise Expect with mortal pain. Milton , P. L., xii. 383. 2. Used at the head or beginning, as of a sentence, line, or word. See capital letters, below. -3. Affecting the head or life; incurring or involving the forfeiture of life; punishable with death: as, treason and murder are capital offenses or crimes; hence, fatal; most serious: as, a capital mistake. By the lawes of all king domes it is a cap it all crime to devise or purpose the death of the king. Spenser, State of Ireland. The law which made forgery capital in England was pa ed without the smallest reference to the state of society in India. Macaulay , Warren Hastings. 4. First in importance; chief; principal. This had been Perhaps thy capital seat, from whence had spread All generations. Milton , P. L., xі. 343. Whatever is capital and e ential in Christianity. Is . Taylor . The capital peculiarity of the eloquence of all times of revolution is that the actions it persuades to are the highest and most heroic which men can do. R. Choate, Addre es, p. 173. IMG:content-3091.png:[blocks in formation] When the reading was over, nobody said capital , or even good, or even tolerable. T. Hook , Gilbert Gurney, I. ii. In a dirty little inn, ill-kept by friendly, simple people, I had a capital breakfast. C. D. Warner, Roundabout Journey, p. 52. Capital cro . See cro l.-Capital letters (capital A, B, C, etc.), in writing and printing, letters of a larger face than, and differing more or le in form from, the letters constituting the bulk of the text (small or lower-case let ters), and corresponding in the main (especially in printing) to the majuscules of ancient inscriptions and manuscripts, which were wholly written in such letters: 80 called because used in headings, and at the beginning of head of sentences, lines of poetry, proper names, etc. Capital See manse. - Capital offense, crime, or felony, a crime or offense which involves the penalty of death. All the more serious offenses against society were punishable with death until comparatively recent times (the number in England in Black stone's time, without benefit of clergy, being 160); but now the only civil crimes generally treated as capital are murder, piracy, and treason, to which rape, arson, and one or two others are added in some countries or states. - Capital stock. See capital2, n., and stock. = Syn. 4. Leading, prominent, important, e ential. - 5. Prime, splendid, perfect. II. n. 1. The city or town which is the official seat of government in a country, state, or province, or of justice in a county.-2. A capital letter (which see, under I.). Abbreviated cap . - Rustic capitals, in early Roman manuscripts, a form of letters differing from the square capitals in that the lines are more free and the forms more slender and le angular.- Square capitals, in early Roman manuscripts, a form of letters in which the horizontal lines are carefully made at right angles with the vertical strokes. The forms are based on those of the lapidary inscriptions. The rustic and square capitals were used contemporaneously, and were generally superseded by the uncial characters as early as the sixth century.