CAP 



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CAP 



original is issued to take the defendant 

 and make him answer to the plaintiff: 

 the other, which issues after judgment, is 

 of divers kinds, as a capias ad satisfacien- 

 dum, or writ of execution; a capias pro 

 fine ; a capias utlagatum ; a capias in icither- 

 nam. 



CAPILLA'IRE (French), a kind of syrup 

 obtained from maiden-hair. 



CAPii/LAMENT.afilament; from capillus, 

 a hair. A chive. 



CAp'iLLARY,Lat. capillaris,from capillus, 

 a hair. 1. In natural philosophy, capillary 

 attraction is properly that force hy which 

 water or any other fluid is raised above 

 its level in glass tubes, whose diameters 

 are of the smallness of hairs; but the 

 term is now employed, in a more general 

 sense, to denote that force with which 

 solids act upon fluids, either in raising 

 them above or depressing them beneath 

 their natural level, when the solid is 

 simply immersed in the fluid, or when 

 the fluid is inclosed in a tube or between 

 two plates, nearly, but not in actual con- 

 tact. 2. In anatomy, the capillary ves- 

 cels are those minute vessels by which 

 the terminal arteries and veins communi- 

 cate with one another. 3. In botany, 



capillary plants are hair-shaped, as the 

 ferns : this class of plants corresponds to 

 the order Filices of the sexual method. 

 The term capillary is also applied to parts 

 of plants which resemble hairs : thus a 

 capillary root is one which consists of 



many very fine fibres. 4. In surgery, 



the term capillary is applied to a linear 

 fracture of the skull, unattended with 

 any separation of the parts of the injured 

 boiie. 



CAPILLI'TCM, Lat. capillus, a hair. A 

 kind of purse or net in which the spores 

 of trichia and similar fungi are retained. 



CA.PII/LCS VEN'ERIS, the true maiden- 

 hair ; a British species of adiantum. 



CAPITAL, Lat. capitalis, appertaining to 

 the head (caput) : used substantively. 1. 

 In geography, the principal town or city 

 of a state or kingdom. 2. In architec- 

 ture, the head or uppermost part of a 

 column, pillar, or pilaster, serving as the 

 crowning, and placed immediately over 



the shaft, and under the entablature. 



3. In letter -press printing, the large letters 

 serving as initials of proper names, &c., 

 are called capitals.^ 4. In trade, capital 

 is that sum of money which a merchant, 

 banker, or trader, adventures in any un- 

 dertaking, or which he contributes to the 

 common stock of a partnership. It signi- 

 fies likewise the fund of a trading com- 

 pany or corporation ; but in this sense the 

 word stock is commonly added : thus we 

 say the capital stock of the bank, &c. 



CAPITA'TION-TAX, a poll-tax, or imposi- 

 tion upon each head or person. 



CAP'ITE, in Engtith law, a tenant in 



capite, or in chief, is one who holds by 

 knight's service or by soccage, the land 

 immediately of the sovereign, caput, the 

 head or lord paramount of all the lands 

 in the kingdom. This tenure was abo- 

 lished by 12 Charles II. 



CA'PITE CENSI, anciently, the lowest 

 rank of Roman citizens, who were count- 

 ed rather by their heads than by their 

 estates. 



CAP'ITOL, Lat. capitolium, the temple of 

 Jupiter at Rome, and a fort or castle on 

 the Mons CapitoJinus. In this the senate 

 of Rome anciently met, and on the same 

 site is still the city-hall or town-house, 

 where the conservators of the Romans 

 hold their meetings. 



CAP'ITOLINE GAMES, annual games, in- 

 stituted by Camillus, in honour of Jupiter 

 Capitolinus, and to commemorate the pre- 

 servation of the Capitol from the Gauls ; 

 and other games instituted by Domitian, 

 and celebrated every five years. 



CAPIT'CLAR, an act passed in a chapter 

 (capitulum) either of knights, canons, or 

 religious. 



CAPIT'ULARY, the body of laws or sta- 

 tutes of a chapter (capituluni) , or of an 

 ecclesiastical council. 



CAPIT'ULUM (dim. of caput). 1. A small 

 head or knob. - 2. A protuberance of a 

 bone received into the cavity of another 

 bone. - 3. An alembic. 4. A species 

 of inflorescence called a head or tuft, 

 formed of many flowers arranged in a 

 globular form, upon a common peduncle. 



CAP'NION, chimney-money; a tax levied 

 by the Roman emperors on smoke, 



CAP'MOMANCT, Or. xuffvot, smoke, and 

 (jtMvnioi, prophecy ; divination by smoke- 



CAP'NOMOR, Gr. xatirvo?, smoke, and 

 ftoigot, part ; an oily substance obtained 

 from the tar of wood. 



CA'POC, a very fine short cotton of the 

 E. Indies, used chiefly to line palanquins, 

 stuff cushions, &c. 



CAPONNIE'RE, in fortification a covered 

 lodgement made four or five feet deep in 

 the ground, encompassed with a parapet 

 about two feet high, serving to support 

 several planks laden with earth. It is 

 usually large enough to contain 20 men, 

 and is placed in the glacis, at the ex- 

 tremity of the counterscarp, and in dry 

 moats with embrasures or loop-holes 

 through which the soldiers may fire. 



CAPOT', a term used at the game of 

 piquet, when all the tricks of cards are 

 won. 



CAPPAR'IDACEJS. Capparis the type. A 

 natural order of exogenous plants. 



CAP'PARIS, the caper-plant, a. genus of 

 plants , mostly shrubs , of 1 2 species , natives 

 of warm climates. Polyandria Monogynia, 



o 2 



