CAP, n.

1. A part of dress made to cover the head.
2. The ensign of a cardinalate. – Shak.
3. The top, or the uppermost; the highest. Thou art the cap of fools. – Shak.
4. A vessel in form of a cap. – Wilkins.
5. An act of respect made by uncovering the head. – L'Estrange. Cap of cannon, a piece of lead laid over the vent to keep the priming dry; now called an apron. Cap of maintenance, an ornament of state, carried before the kings of England at the coronation. It is also carried before the mayors of some cities. In ship-building, a cap is a thick strong block of wood, used to confine two masts together, when one is erected at the head of another.

To uncover the head in reverence or civility. [Not used.] – Shak. Lavoisier, Trans.

1. To cover the top, or end; to spread over; as, a bone is capped at the joint with a cartilaginous substance. The cloud-capped towers. – Shak.
2. To deprive of the cap, or take off a cap. To cap verses, is to name alternately verses beginning with a particular letter; to name in opposition or emulation; to name alternately in contest. – Johnson.

1. A covering for the head
   
   
   ; esp. (a)
2. To cover with a cap, or as with a cap] to provide with a cap or cover; to cover the top or end of; to place a cap upon the proper part of; as, to cap a post; to cap a gun.
   
   

   The bones next the joint are capped with a smooth cartilaginous substance.
   Derham.

3. To uncover the head respectfully.
   
   
   Shak.
4. The top, or uppermost part; the chief.
   
   

   Thou art the cap of all the fools alive.
   Shak.

5. To deprive of cap.
   
   
   [Obs.] Spenser.
6. A respectful uncovering of the head.
   
   

   He that will give a cap and make a leg in thanks.
   Fuller.

7. To complete; to crown; to bring to the highest point or consummation; as, to cap the climax of absurdity.
8. The whole top of the head of a bird from the base of the bill to the nape of the neck.
9. To salute by removing the cap.
   
   
   [Slang. Eng.]

   Tom . . . capped the proctor with the profoundest of bows.
   Thackeray.

10. Anything resembling a cap in form, position, or use
    
    
    ; as: (a) (Arch.)
11. To match; to mate in contest; to furnish a complement to; as, to cap text; to cap proverbs.
    
    
    Shak.

    Now I have him under girdle I'll cap verses with him to the end of the chapter.
    Dryden.

    * In capping verses, when one quotes a verse another must cap it by quoting one beginning with the last letter of the first letter, or with the first letter of the last word, or ending with a rhyming word, or by applying any other arbitrary rule may be agreed upon.

12. A large size of writing paper; as, flat cap; foolscap; legal cap.
    
    

    Cap of a cannon, a piece of lead laid over the vent to keep the priming dry; -- now called an apron. -- Cap in hand, obsequiously; submissively. -- Cap of liberty. See Liberty cap, under Liberty. -- Cap of maintenance, a cap of state carried before the kings of England at the coronation. It is also carried before the mayors of some cities. -- Cap money, money collected in a cap for the huntsman at the death of the fox. -- Cap paper. (a) A kind of writing paper including flat cap, foolscap, and legal cap. (b) A coarse wrapping paper used for making caps to hold commodities. -- Cap rock (Mining), The layer of rock next overlying ore, generally of barren vein material. -- Flat cap, cap See Foolscap. -- Forage cap, the cloth undress head covering of an officer of soldier. -- Legal cap, a kind of folio writing paper, made for the use of lawyers, in long narrow sheets which have the fold at the top or "narrow edge." -- To set one's cap, to make a fool of one. (Obs.) Chaucer. -- To set one's cap for, to try to win the favor of a man with a view to marriage. [Colloq.]