Capital letter

Capital letter
Capital Cap"i*tal, a. [F. capital, L. capitalis capital (in senses 1 & 2), fr. caput head. See {Chief}, and cf. {Capital}, n.] 1. Of or pertaining to the head. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise Expect with mortal pain. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

2. Having reference to, or involving, the forfeiture of the head or life; affecting life; punishable with death; as, capital trials; capital punishment. [1913 Webster]

Many crimes that are capital among us. --Swift. [1913 Webster]

To put to death a capital offender. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

3. First in importance; chief; principal. [1913 Webster]

A capital article in religion --Atterbury. [1913 Webster]

Whatever is capital and essential in Christianity. --I. Taylor. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

5. Of first rate quality; excellent; as, a capital speech or song. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster]

{Capital letter} [F, lettre capitale] (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. --Abbott.

Syn: Chief; leading; controlling; prominent. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • capital letter — n. the form of an alphabetical letter used to begin a sentence or proper name [A, B, C, etc. are capital letters] …   English World dictionary

  • capital letter — late 14c.; see CAPITAL (Cf. capital). So called because it is at the head of a sentence or word …   Etymology dictionary

  • capital letter — see CAPITAL1 2 …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

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  • capital letter — a letter of the alphabet that usually differs from its corresponding lowercase letter in form and height, as A, B, Q, and R as distinguished from a, b, q, and r: used as the initial letter of a proper name, the first word of a sentence, etc. Also …   Universalium

  • capital letter —    In typography, uppercase letters (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, etc.) In c. 114 CE, an inscription was chiseled into the base of a column in Trajan s Forum, Rome. That inscription had most of the capital letters known today. Until the sixth century …   Glossary of Art Terms

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