capital1
n.
- the most important city or town of a country or region, usually its seat of government and administrative centre.
▸a place particularly associated with a specified activity:
the fashion capital of the world.
- wealth owned by a person or organization or invested, lent, or borrowed.
▸the excess of a company's assets over its liabilities.
- a capital letter.
adj.
- (of an offence or charge) liable to the death penalty.
- (of a letter of the alphabet) large in size and of the form used to begin sentences and names.
- informal, dated excellent.
Phrase
Derivative
Etymology
ME (as adj. in the sense ‘relating to the head or top’): via OFr. from L. capitalis, from caput ‘head’.
capital2
n.
Architecture the distinct, typically broader section at the head of a pillar or column.
Etymology
ME: from OFr. capitel, from late L. capitellum ‘little head’, dimin. of L. caput.