Definition of "capital"

capital

/ˈkæp.ɪ.təl/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural capitals
1. (uncountable, economics) Already-produced durable goods available for use as a factor of production, such as steam shovels (equipment) and office buildings (structures).
2. (uncountable, business, finance, insurance) Money and wealth. The means to acquire goods and services, especially in a non-barter system.
3. (countable) A city designated as a legislative seat by the government or some other authority, often the city in which the government is located; otherwise the most important city within a country or a subdivision of it.
  Quotations
  Lin Hsiang-ju immediately said to the king of Ch’in, “If Ta-wang wants fifteen cities from Chao, the king of Chao should also get something in return. What about giving him Hsien-yang as a gift?’ Hsien-yang was the capital of Ch’in.
  1995, Linda Fang, The Chʻi-lin Purse: A Collection of Ancient Chinese Stories‎, New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, page 54
  From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. […] But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.
  2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52
4. (countable) The most important city in the field specified.
  Quotations
  Hollywood is the film capital, New York the theater capital, Las Vegas the gambling capital.
  2010 September, Charlie Brennan, "Active Athletes", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 83
5. (countable) An uppercase letter.
6. (countable, architecture) The uppermost part of a column.
7. (uncountable) Knowledge; awareness; proficiency.
8. (countable, by extension) The chief or most important thing.
adjective
not comparable
1. Of prime importance.
  Quotations
  a capital article in religion
  1708, Francis Atterbury, Fourteen Sermons Preach'd on Several Occasions, Preface
  whatever is capital and essential in Christianity
  1852, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening
2. Chief, in a political sense, as being the seat of the general government of a state or nation.
3. (comparable, UK, dated) Excellent.
  Quotations
  Sometimes he laughed heartily as if he heard some capital joke; by degrees this lessened, and he spoke rapidly, but in very low tones.
  1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 166
4. (crime) Punishable by, or involving punishment by, death.
  Quotations
  Neither could the Legiſlature in any thing more conſult the Publick Good, than by providing ſome effectual Remedy againſt this Evil, which in ſeveral Caſes deſerves greater Puniſhment than many Crimes that are capital among us.
  1709, [Jonathan Swift], A Project for the Advancement of Religion, and the Reformation of Manners. […], London: […] Benj[amin] Tooke, […], pages 53–54
  to put to death a capital offender
  1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […]
  Some 1,600 priests were deported, for example, while the total number of capital victims of the military commissions down to 1799 was only around 150.
  2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 517
5. Uppercase.
  1. used to emphasise greatness or absoluteness
    Quotations
    In recent years, much has been made of the lack of new heavyweight male star power in mainstream Hollywood. Talented performers may be everywhere, but Movie Stars, capital M, capital S, are something else.
    2021 February 9, Christina Newland, “Is Tom Hanks part of a dying breed of genuine movie stars?”, in BBC‎
6. Of or relating to the head.
  Quotations
  Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise / Expect with mortal pain.
  1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,

Definition of "capital"

capital

noun

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adjective

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