cap
pronunciation
How to pronounce cap in British English:
UK [kæp]
How to pronounce cap in American English:
US [kæp]
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- Noun:
- a tight-fitting headdress
- a top (as for a bottle)
- a mechanical or electrical explosive device or a small amount of explosive; can be used to initiate the reaction of a disrupting explosive
- something serving as a cover or protection
- a fruiting structure resembling an umbrella that forms the top of a stalked fleshy fungus such as a mushroom
- an upper limit on what is allowed
- dental appliance consisting of an artificial crown for a tooth
- the upper part of a column that supports the entablature
-
- Verb:
- lie at the top of
- restrict the number or amount of
Word Origin
- cap
- cap: [OE] Old English cæppa came from late Latin cappa ‘hood’, source also of English cape ‘cloak’. The late Latin word may well have come from Latin caput ‘head’, its underlying meaning thus being ‘head covering’.=> cappuccino, chapel, chaperone, képi
- cap (n.)
- late Old English cæppe "hood, head-covering, cape," from Late Latin cappa "a cape, hooded cloak" (source of Spanish capa, Old North French cape, French chape), possibly a shortened from capitulare "headdress," from Latin caput "head" (see head (n.)). Meaning "women's head covering" is early 13c. in English; extended to men late 14c. Figurative thinking cap is from 1839 (considering cap is 1650s). Of cap-like coverings on the ends of anything (such as hub-cap) from mid-15c. Meaning "contraceptive device" is first recorded 1916. That of "cap-shaped piece of copper lined with gunpowder and used to ignite a firearm" is c. 1826; extended to paper version used in toy pistols, 1872 (cap-pistol is from 1879). The Late Latin word apparently originally meant "a woman's head-covering," but the sense was transferred to "hood of a cloak," then to "cloak" itself, though the various senses co-existed. Old English took in two forms of the Late Latin word, one meaning "head-covering," the other "ecclesiastical dress" (see cape (n.1)). In most Romance languages, a diminutive of Late Latin cappa has become the usual word for "head-covering" (such as French chapeau).
- cap (v.)
- c. 1400, "to put a cap on," from cap (n.). Meaning "cover as with s cap" is from c. 1600. Figurative sense of "go one better" is from 1580s. Related: Capped; capping.
Antonym
Example
- 1. I bought a golf cap for father 's birthday .
- 2. Alyssa 's dallas cowboy baseball cap was made in china .
- 3. Vidal politely doffed his cap and opened the door for his crestfallen mother .
- 4. Cow inspired universal cap fits most standard plastic milk jugs .
- 5. Pour popcorn kernels into the tube and glue a cardboard cap to the open end .